Reticence Saga: The Aliens Within
by Cydra
Summary: The journey of the crew has gone rather far astray. 6 years astray to be precise, due to an ancient device that could be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands. And claiming it before anyone else does will not be a straight and simple matter. The crew shall have to deal with more worries than what has changed in 6 years. There are older forces that are soon to come into play.
1. Ghosts of Times Yet to Come

**Reticence Saga**

**The Aliens Within**

**Chapter 1: Ghosts of Times Yet To Come**

The vastness of multiversal space cannot be overstated. Even with the most advanced of ships, there are some distances that are simply too far apart to reach by conventional methods. As such, some ships are equipped with alternate means of crossing the immense distances. That often meant different accommodations for the crew.

However, some things were too dangerous, which was why most ships had stasis decks, perfect for the radiation barrier one such ship was being forced to traverse, fatal to any living creature not in a booth. Aria was one such creature, wandering the decks and amusing herself by checking field reports or messing with enviromentals. "Urgh...8 more days of this crap...the sooner everyone's awake, the better," she said to herself, checking another day's worth of scans .

The greatest drawback to being an AI was that boredom was harder to deal with. AI lack the biological functions that organic beings had to preoccupy them and they had to stay active to maintain the ship.

There was also the problem of computer senility. AIs ran the risk of literally going mad from boredom which was why Aria was happy the end was in sight. She'd already had to quarantine several subroutines when they began to show signs...  
"Warning...Tech alert. Hostile technology detected...analyzing signal and plotting intercept course," said the computer at that .

"Estimate deviation from original course," said Aria, sounding really annoyed.

"92.7 degrees starboard...undocumented wormhole...classification: rifter," said the computer before it added, "Analysis...tech estimated as class 12...immediate intervention required under the NSC Sy-Yong act."

"We're not NSC anymore. Stay on course," said Aria.

"Unable to comply...your projected course would bypass the alert...Assuming control under category 12 of the Sy-Yong act," said the computer.

Aria managed, "You son of a-" before she powered down. The computer beeped contently to itself before making the required corrections and preparing a briefing for the crew...

* * *

Plumber HQ, Earth.

Normally, the Plumbers only dealt with matters within their current star system. But several Plumber outposts had been sending reports of a large unidentified ship that had been plowing through everything in its way.

"Magister Tennyson. We got another report. An Incursean fleet just tried to ambush...whatever that is. From this report, they didn't last long but they're saying it was a NSC ship, older Infinity model," said a Plumber at the controls, a starmap showing a red dot slowly moving along, several x's marking where ships ranging from pirated to PDF ships trying to chase it away had tried and failed to engage the behemoth .

"I want the NSC representative in here now," demanded Max.

An image was immediately called up, an aged Neilson yawning. "Oh, what the smeg? Do you know what time it is here on Central?" he snapped .

"No and I don't care," said Max, "What I do care about is why one of your ships has been plowing a trail through one eighth of the Milky Way."

"Are you joking? The fleets have their hands full with what's left of the Dark Queen's empire. The closest ship's 3 months away, one of the reasons we objected to your boss kicking our bases out," snapped Neilson .

"Then can you offer a better explanation for this?" asked Max before sending Neilson data about the ship.

"Home in on the registry and nameplate," said Neilson to someone off-screen, immediately all business before he said, "It's clearly a fake. The Novus Star's on Avalar undertaking an extensive refit. I should know because I spoke to the commander last night. It's his anniversary and the last person to try and crash that ended up in a regen booth for 3 months," he said calmly .

"Seems unlikely that someone could make an exact replica of that ship just to blast everything in its way," said Max.

"Of course not. The Infinity series was discontinued when the civil war broke out. Only three were made and they're all accounted for," said Neilson, before the feed began to flicker. "The heck...Control, lock down that..." he began before every screen except Neilson's became a red backgrounded rotating symbol of the NSC.

"This is a general broadcast from the Nullspace Security Coalition. A hostile technology of class 12 has been identified on a planet at coordinated Zeta 414 dash 5. This technology, if prematurely activated could cause significant loss of life and materials and as a result, a force has been dispatched to contain and neutralize the effect. Any attempt to breach the quarantine perimeter or interfere with the operations will be met with lethal force. This message will broadcast to any ship entering the 2 lightyear buffer zone and will repeat...This is a general-" said a calm and polite female voice before Neilson apparently muted it.

"Probably DARKRIFT. I'd listen if I were you. Those guys eat demons for breakfast," he said, suddenly all calm, like he knew something .

"DARKRIFT or not, I want to know why they're heading for the Anur System," said Max, having already figured out the ship's trajectory.

"DARKRIFT ops are classified way above my paygrade but let me put it this way, until now, the Sy-Yong scale only went to 8," said Neilson, before terminating the link

"There is only one Plumber posted in that system," said Molly Gunther, "It shouldn't be a concern to us."

"When something blows up an entire fleet, especially an Incursean fleet to get somewhere, I think it's everyone's concern," said Max.

"Magister, we can't get through to the Plumber stationed on Anur. We just get that voice message," said another Plumber concerned .

"Scout could be in over his head with this," said Max, "We better send backup." Max, however, had called up the specs on the so-called Infinity. Nicknamed 'fleet in a box' due to the fact it was so large that it had several destroyers and cruisers docked with it. Above Max, the same message repeated, emphasizing the 'lethal force' part. "We're going to need someone who's extremely experienced with slipping under the radar," said Max.

* * *

"I can't believe we're going back to Anur Transyl. I hope the locals are friendlier then last time," said Ben, sitting back in his of the time ship.

"Perhaps they will be more welcoming if you do not try to label and antagonize them again," said Rook.

"What? They're actual monsters. I was just calling them what they were," said Ben, "Besides, I saved them Transyl and Zs'Skayr so they know they owe me."

Rook, however, was suddenly looking ahead to where a cluster of asteroids were sitting. "That is strange. These asteroids were not here on our last trip," he said concerned, before the com auto-activated.

"Unidentified vessel. You are approaching a quarantined system. Please alter your heading to leave this zone or state a valid NSC security ident code," said a calm female voice.

"You got a working code?" asked Ben dryly.

"I do not," said Rook, "I suspect that these asteroids are more than they appear."

"What gives you that idea?" asked Ben.

"The fact that they are targeting us with auto-turrets," said Rook.

"This is your second warning. Please state a valid ident code or your ship will be flagged as hostile," said the voice a tone of warning in it now as several of the 'asteroids' shed their covering to show floating quad cannons.

"Ben, perhaps we should try a different approach," said Rook.

"Yeah, we'll just time travel back to before they get here and slip in before they set up their defenses," said Ben.

"For once, a useful idea," said Skurd dryly.

"Your time has expired. Kill your engines. You are under arrest," said the voice, sounding angry now before several rapid clunks were heard, the projectiles bouncing off their ship and the clanks getting louder as the turrets began to up the calibers.

"Activate the Time Cycles' temporal drive on my mark," said Rook.

"MARK!" shouted Ben as he hit his button, Rook barely hitting his in time.

However, at that moment, a deafening bang was heard as one turret's computer noticed the energy burst and decided it was a priority target, firing its main cannon and scoring a direct hit. However, by then, the ship was past them. "All point alert...a ship has breached perimeter line 1...scramble all sabres. Target is to be disabled," it announced .

"Rook, a time jump would come in handy right now," said Ben.

"The temporal drive is offline. We shall have to sausage it from here," said Rook.

"That's 'hotdog it'," said Ben before they made their ship zoom forward.

The ship immediately dived into the mess of webbing that connected the various planetary bodies in the Anur System, easily weaving through them before several tracers shot by, followed by several fighters. "Unidentified ship. We have you tagged. Follow us on heading 4 dash 9. If you deviate we will destroy you. Do you copy?" said an American-accented voice, though with a hint of reptilian hissing.

"What way is that anyways?" asked Ben.

A second hail of gunfire however indicated the pilots had lost patience, and their burst firing indicating they weren't going to fall for the 'trick em into flying into a rock' form of trick flying. "If you're going to fly somewhere, I suggest doing it now," said Skurd.

As if the universe was listening, the last of the webbing cleared to show a small armada sitting in orbit, a huge vessel easily 2 miles long commanding the sight, a hail of heavy rounds of both solid and energy filling the sky and the Plumber scanner picking up a storm of chatter.

"Uh, Rook, did we ever get around to putting in that cloaking shield?" asked Ben.

"No, you have repeatedly said that a time machine does not require a cloaking shield as they can disappear literally before anyone can notice them," said Rook.

Another hit was felt at that, the controls sparking. "Prepare for crash landing," said Rook as he tried to stabilize the Time Cycles' descent.

* * *

Blackstar 9 was one of the more extreme marine teams on tech search when they got the call that some ship was breaching containment. "Heh, how far do you think it'll get? The frogs barely made it past he auto turrets," said one.

"You sure it's the frogs?" asked another, "I'm picking up temporal energy from that ship."

"Don't matter. I hear the boss has done his share of time travel. Have the computer...there we go. Turret swatted their time drive. Let's see em try anything else...oh they got to the fighter picket, 50 creds say they make it to the fleet," said a fourth marine cheerfully .

"Oh, there they go already," said the third marine.

"All ground teams, be prepared. Bogey is headed planetside. Arrest all survivors. That is an order. Commander is en route to oversee," said a voice from control, causing the marines to groan and head for the several scorpion tanks that was their transport.

* * *

The ship had crashed not too far from one of the 'stitches' that covered the planet. As such, the ground was a tiny bit unstable.

"Ok marines, take up positions!" yelled a captain, his squad jumping from their vehicles and taking cover, a couple hefting twin barreled rocket launchers.

"You are surrounded. Come out with your appendages visible and held above your head!" called a trooper as the scorpion tanks aimed .

One of the cockpits opened and an alien wearing blue armor stepped out with his hands up. "Weird, scanners say he's a Revonnahgander, didn't think they ever leave Revonnah," said one of the marines. "Ok, that's clearly a two-person craft, where's your co-pilot?" demanded another marine.

"He is very, very close," said the Revonnahgander. Just then, the ground beneath them started shaking quite violently.

"Seismic, seismic, everyone get clear!" yelled an anthro cat marine, the group scattering as Armordrillo surfaced and was immediately peppered with useless machinegun fire as the other marines opened fire

"Well, that certainly made new friends," said Skurd dryly.

"Just give me something to blast them with," said Armordrillo. Skurd extended his slime down Armordrillo's arms and over his hands which changed into Water Hazard's. "That'll do," said Armordrillo before hosing down the marines.

A second later, something whizzed past his head and caused a rock tower to explode to dust, Armordrillo turning to see the scorpion tank correcting its aim to fire again, which it did so . "Better take that out," said Armordrillo before pounding the ground and causing a fissure to open up under the tank.

The crew were obviously smart as they were already jumping out, just before the tank tipped into the new void, getting stuck half way. A second later, several missiles slammed into him, the marines switching to their rocket launchers.

"Ow, ok, time to change players," said Armordrillo before slapping the Omnitrix. With a burst of green light, he was now Gravattack.

However, the marines seemed to be falling back, as if making room for something. "Oi...you got a receipt for that?" said a mechanical distorted voice.

Gravattack turned to see someone who was wearing what looked like heavy armor that was shaped a lot like an anthro dragon. "You some guy the Forever Knights kicked out or something?" asked Gravattack.

"Those jokers can't afford me," said the figure smugly, raising his arm so the top of the wrist was pointed, a small gun barrel visible before it raised its other and aimed at Rook. "Don't even think about it," it said calmly .

Gravattack quickly raised an arm and started massively increasing the armored guy's pull of gravity. The figure smirked before firing, the shot not enough to hurt but enough to daze before it leapt off its perch and delivered a double kick to Gravattack's chest with some impressive power behind it, backflipping to land in a crouch .

"Ok, you're strong enough to fight with increased weight," said Gravattack, "But how about without weight?" With that, Gravattack reversed his power, causing the figure to float upwards uncontrollably. The figure seemed to struggle for a minute before two plumes of blue flame ignited and he flew back, firing as he did

Gravattack floated upwards as he shifted to his planet form, redirecting his gravity powers to pull this guy into orbit. The figure just continued to fire before letting himself drop onto Gravattack and dropping a blue orb. "Have a tazer bomb, good for whatever tech ails you," he sneered, taking off again .

The figure didn't get very far before suddenly Gravattack's orbit grabbed him and spun him around before throwing him into the ground. He quickly threw away the tazer bomb into the upper atmosphere before activating the Omnitrix. Rath landed on top of the figure and shouted, "Déjame decirte algo, tipo que dice ser demasiado caro para los Caballeros Eternos! Rath va a libra esa armadura de los suyos hasta que lo que hay dentro se expulse de manera que Rath puede hacer aún más golpes!"  
The figure cocked his head before clicking its neck, swapping the translator to the correct language. "Say again?" it asked calmly .

Rath growled and snapped, "Skurd, Rath sigue hablando español! ¿Cómo puede alguien entender insultos y remontadas increíbles de Rath, cuando nadie puede entender Rath? Fijar ahora!"

"Uno momento," said Skurd before there was a beep and he said, "You're free to mangle the English vocabulary again."

"Finally! Now as Rath was saying-" started Rath.

A second later, Rath was sent flying as the figure fired both blasts into his chest. "Ok...that was new. Oh well, let's see how strong this armor really is," muttered the figure before it heard a click behind him.

"Surrender now and I shall be forced to fire," said Rook behind the figure, holding his Proto-Tool to the figure's back.

"Oh, a plasma blaster, you sure that's a good move?" said the figure, before hearing a beeping from Rath and he turned back into Ben, seemingly surprising the figure. "Hey, don't I know you?" it said .

"A lot of people know me," said Ben, "I am pretty famous."

"Ben, I do not think now is the time for boasting," said Rook.

"His name's Ben?" said the figure, before using the distraction to spin and grab the Proto-Tool. "No guns today," it said, the helmet hissing before splitting into segments. The segments separated to reveal a face Ben hadn't seen for quite some time.

"Matt? What are you doing here?" asked Ben.

"Finding an evil doomsday weapon on a planet full of b-movie monsters and Loboans. Why are you ruining the only missions that's gone for me without a hitch?" said Matt, glaring pointedly.

"Well, when it looks like someone's doing an invasion with a copy of one of the biggest ships in the multiverse, some people might object," said Ben.

Matt glared equally. "Other people shouldn't keep universe destroying doomsday weapons on a planet that looks like it's held together with glue and duct tape," he snapped .

"I believe you are mistaken," said Rook, "On our last visit of Anur Transyl, we detected no doomsday-type weaponry upon this planet."

"Did your ship have scanners capable of reading a newspaper on Earth from the dimension next door? Also, who the hell are you?" said Matt .

"I am Rook Blonko, Plumber officer and assigned partner to Ben Tennyson," said Rook, "And if I'm not mistaken, are you not Admiral Matthew J. Lynch of the Avalarian Alliance?"

"Admiral? As in mainstream? A desk job? I've shot people for suggesting less. Come to think of it, you're both under arrest till I find the doomsday thingy and throw it in the nearest black hole," snapped Matt as his men approached.

"Nuh uh, you're under arrest for blowing up every ship you came across getting here," said Ben.

"I've got the army and the machineguns and I know your little toy takes ten minutes to recharge. Also the ones that exploded were all assholes who tried to shoot us first," snapped Matt .

"So far our scans have shown that only Incursean ships tried to oppose their progress," said Rook.

"Rook, we're supposed to be supporting _our_ side," said Ben.

"Look, can you just stop it? It's bad enough the locals are so twitchy. We've kept scans to the unbuilt areas but we've ran out of those...whatever's setting off the alarm bells is in the town or the surrounding settlements," snapped Matt loudly .

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" asked Ben, "For all we know, you're another evil Matt from another alternate dimension or something."

"Not met one yet. But let me be clear. If one of you so much as dented any of my team's equipment, I'll make you wish I'd never been bor-" he began before seeing the tank. "Heh...ehehehehe...AHAHAHAH...AAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he said, his laugh getting steadily more manic .

"Ok, no one else laughs like that, he's definitely Matt," said Ben.

"YOU'RE DEAD TENNYSON!" screamed Matt, lunging at Ben.

* * *

"Ok, now then, Matt..." said Kala.

Matt, sporting a black eye and several scratches, muttered, "Sorry I tried to vaporize you."

"And Ben..." prompted Kala.

"Rath is sorry for pummeling you, even though you really deserved it," said Rath stubbornly.

"That's good. If either of you behave like children again, I'll get out Mr. Roasty again," Kala said.

"I still do not see why Mrs. Lynch is using a flamethrower," said Rook, "I have heard that her pyrokinesis is proficient enough to compare to a Pyronite's."

"That's not my sister. She's far more violent." said Matt, with a hint of pride

"I was not referring to Chloe Lynch. I was referring to Kala Lynch nee Triseptus," said Rook, looking at his Proto-Tool's computer with some confusion.

Matt paused before asking politely, "Can I see that computer please?"

"As you wish," said Rook, handing the Proto-Tool over.

Matt looked at it before nodding and taking another look. "6 years...we went forward 6 years..." he said in a shaking voice before saying something in Splitter into his earpiece that quickly descended into a rather angry shouting match that ended with his earpiece tazering him for some reason.

"Well that explains a lot," said Ben.

"Indeed," said Rook, "However, one must look on the bright side. Since there are documents pertaining to events involving Captain Lynch that cover the last 6 years, it is a sure indication that he and his crew are to return to their proper time."

"Yes, Aria, you blanket jam all infonet connections, NO SPOILERS!" Matt snapped, his years of being fried by lightning meaning he'd already recovered .

"Ok, well, now that the awkward part's done, mind giving us a better explanation about what kind of doomsday weapon you're after? It couldn't be worse than the Anilyog."

"The Anihilaarg," corrected Rook.

"That? Nah, that recreates the universe once it's done, barely class 3. This is doomsday stuff. Remember Tuatara?" said Matt darkly .

"Vividly," said Ben.

"He was made by a class 8 tech pathogen, this thing was apparently class 12," said Matt calmly .

"Can pathogenic technology really advance that high?" asked Rook.

"I have the scars on my shoulder to prove it. We don't know what this class 12 is. Could be anything: a bomb, leftover terraforming tech from the Atlantean era, or something else. That is why my men are turning the planet upside down. These things don't come with a manual usually meaning we need to find it and smash it," said Matt .

"Well, I suppose I can help with this one," said Ben, "I mean, I'm pretty good at finding long lost artifacts."

"Since when have you ever found any artifacts on your own?" asked Rook.

"SILENCE!" yelled Matt, before his comm beeped.

"Commander, this is search six. We got a potential mob on our hands. We need backup," said a desperate voice .

Matt gave an annoyed sigh before saying, "I'll be right there."

"You know, it'd be easier for you if you had a friend on this planet," said Ben, "Like a local Plumber who's the only representative posted in this system."

"Fine, just the times on the Rustbucket. Aria, those people who came in on the ship, add em to the spiderbot IFF," Matt said with a sigh.

* * *

A marine peered out before tapping the side of his helmet to turn on his megaphone. "This is your last warning. This search is mandatory. The tech that is in this settlement is extremely hostile. A cash reward will be-" he said before being forced to duck as a rock flew past his head, the squad holding energy shields in front of themselves.

The locals were not welcoming of the newcomers. They had alien versions of torches and pitchforks, as well as picket signs that translated to such things as 'No More Monsters!' and 'Go Away Monsters!'

"This is your last warning. You are interfering in a NSC military operation. Lethal force will be employed in-ouch!" yelled the same marine before a well-thrown piece of fruit knocked him backwards

As the rotten produce continued to fly, one of the troopers said to another, "Am I the only one who's thinking this is extremely ironic?"

* * *

Matt watched from between the fingers of the hand on his face as his men were pelted by what seemed like the cast of the Addams family. "It was going so well," he moaned, he, Rook and Ben watching from an alley

"Seriously, do we look anywhere near monstrous?" asked Ben.

"Ben, the standards are different here," said Rook, "_We_ are the monsters on this planet."

"All units, hold positions," said Matt, folding his helmet back into position before walking into view, firing a wrist shot into the air to get the mob's attention. "Ladies, gentlemen, and miscellaneous other, can I have your attention please?" he called, his suit magnifying the noise . There were more than a few growls and grumbles, particularly from the Loboans.

"My men are here to make sure your world doesn't end up consigned to history. I've seen firsthand what happens when people find ancient tech and press the wrong button. They're usually found on ruins in asteroid belts. The last thing I want is to see that happen here. We are not invaders and as soon as we find the tech, we are out of your lives forever," Matt called .

There was more growling from the mob before a voice said, "This alien speaks the truth!" Everyone turned to see a Loboan wearing a Plumber's uniform. "These aliens may appear hideous and aggressive, but have they ever did anything to hurt us?" called the Loboan, "Must we always lash out against outsiders just because of what they look like? We should judge people on their actions, not their appearances, no matter how ugly they appear to us."

Matt looked up, his armor supplying a few names, though it seemed to say this Loboan was still a cadet...and at the academy still. "Stupid time difference. I give my personal assurance that if any of my men cause trouble before them that I will come down like a ton of bricks on them but we _have_ to check buildings and the caves underneath. If you've found anything unusual we will buy the item from you for a fair price," he said .

"How much could you pay?" called a Transylian.

"For a class 12 hostile tech, standard bounty is...20 million NSC credits," said Matt, more or less on automatic. The locals didn't seem impressed until Matt sighed and withdrew some credits from his account to show them. They probably didn't know how much it was worth, but they knew gold when they saw it.

"This is a standard NSC credit. Probably worth about...20,000 universal creds here and..." began Matt before the mob lunged at him, most of them holding junk .

"This is gonna take all day," moaned Ben.

* * *

"No, for the 400th time, we are not looking for a picture that ages instead of our real selves," said Matt in a dark mood . The good news was that the locals no longer feared and despised the visitors. The bad news was now they were trying to hock basically anything they can find, including a couple of kitchen sinks. Matt, in true merc style, had, as usual, spread the misery around and had gotten Ben and Rook to take his place on the search teams.

* * *

"Ok, this castle's the last place. Drone got a good read from here, probably some cavern the damn thing was built on. Locals said some creep used to live here so watch for booby traps," said the team captain, ignoring the three Plumbers.

"Do you think that Zs'Skayr has already reconstituted himself yet?" asked Rook.

"Hard to say," said Ben, "Not sure how fast he can piece himself back together on his own and Dr. Viktor might still be mad about the whole Transyl thing."

"Wait...that death trap's occupied?" said the team captain, looking at the doorway, which swung open to reveal the aforementioned Dr. Viktor.

"Hey, Viktor, buddy..." started Ben.

"Just because I aided you against ze Vladat does not mean ve are 'buddies'," said Viktor in a cold Austrian accent.

"Dr. Viktor...you're the owner?" said the team captain, pushing past Ben .

"Ze steward," corrected Viktor, "As soon as the master revives, ze castle vill be his again."

"By order of the NSC tech recovery division, we have to search the premises and the caverns below for a possible class 12 technological artifact," said the captain, holding up a data pad.

"I do not care who you say you are," said Viktor, "I vill not be having strangers burglarizing the master's castle."

"If you don't let us in, there might not be a castle, or a planet the castle's supposed to be on," snapped the captain .

"Do you really think zat Zs'Skayr vould know of such a thing in his castle and not have some means of securing it?" said Viktor scoffing, "Be gone or I vill have ze pumpkins force you off the premises."

"You mean the pumpkins Lt Kala's napalming with Mr. Roasty?" said another marine, stepping aside to see a pumpkin fleeing from the giggling Kala.

"Odd, ze pumpkins should be absorbing the flames," said Viktor.

"There is a limit to how much they can handle," said Rook.

"Guys, let me handle this," said Ben, "If he's waiting for Ghostfreak, I'll give him Ghostfreak." He activated the Omnitrix and in a flash, he was suddenly a small fairylike alien.

"Yeah, real impressive. Sir, if you don't let us into the castle, I have a feeling the commander will just order us to drop damn nuke on you and check the crater. He's in a real bad mood," said the captain .

"I think you have outstayed your velcome," said Viktor as his lightning rods started charging up.

"I got this one," chirped Pesky Dust, "Dr. Viktor's had such a busy night. He really need to catch some z's." He tossed a handful of green dust into Viktor's face, which made immediately fall over and start snoring.

"Nice work, peewee. Team one, sweep the first floor. Demo, blow a hole in their basement so we can get into the caverns. Team three and you Plumbers...with me, we'll check the upper floors," ordered the captain, his teams running inside .

"I got a quicker way to find it," said Pesky Dusk before he head his hands over Viktor's head and they started glowing.

Viktor fretted in his sleep and muttered, "You vill not have my brain, Xarion."

After a few seconds, Pesky Dust turned back into Ben and said, "We need to head to the dungeon, bottom level."

"All squads, head to dungeon, bottom floor. Containment teams, pull out of the town. Tell the boss we got this thing," said the captain with a smirk.

* * *

"Man, whoever owned this place went all out with this dungeon," said Matt. They had passed several alien versions of medieval torture equipment as well stuff that looked much more modern, "Who was this Zs'Skayr guy anyways?"

"Oh, that's Ghostfreak, the evil version that is," said Ben, "Turns out he had his own name."

"Oh, that's nice. I'll update my 'people to obliterate' list when I go back to my time," said Matt cheerfully, looking as his team were scanning around before focusing on a section of the floor.

"It's here," one marine said, slamming a disc on the floor.

"Oh boy...run away!" yelped Matt, running out the room with the others before the disc charge obliterated the floor and revealed a huge cavern below.

The team dropped down and shined their lights around. "I believe I have found something," said Rook, his light falling upon what looked like a coffin leaned against the wall.

"Oh boy, nothing good could be in that," said Ben.

"Still, we have to check and see, against my better judgment," said Matt.  
What looked like a robotic skeleton kicked the lid off its hinges proceeded to knock the head off one of the marines before looking around with red optics. "Intruders detected...obliterating."

"Come on, Omnitrix, don't fail me now," said Ben as he selected an alien and pushed the core down. In a flash, he was a small gremlin-like alien in an aviator's outfit.

"Yes, yes, Jury Rigg!" he said excitedly.

The creature's head whipped around from choking another marine to spot him. "Scanning...target: Devimachina. Threat to Gaia Mirror: extreme. Conclusion: obliterate," it said in a dark tone, throwing the coughing marine back and advancing .

"Not good, not good," said Jury Rigg, "Skurd, need a weapon quick."

"Coming right up," said Skurd as slime covered one of Jury Rigg's arm and changed it into what looked like a gun made out of Legos.

"Bloxx-lobber, yes!" said Jury Rigg excitedly before shooting explosive blocks at the robot.

The bot cocked its head before seemingly teleporting, though a storm of dust indicated it had moved conventionally. "Threat level: rising. Unidentified parasite confirmed," it said in the same tone, claws crackling with energy sprouting from its fingers .

"Oh dear, I think we need to gain some distance," said Skurd before making Astrodactyl's jetpack appear on Jury Rigg's back.

The bot moved again, jumping up and grabbing Jury Rigg's leg and pulling down before throwing him at a wall. "Target...neutralized...removing," it said darkly before turning to face a muzzle.

"Boo," said Matt before blowing the bot's head off, a fountain of oil-like liquid coming out before the bot fell sideways .

Ben changed back and said, "Ok, that's the only line of defense, right?"

"I hope so..." said Matt, looking around as the team medics saw to the injured before spotting that the coffin didn't have a back panel. "After you," he said, gesturing .

As they walked through, they soon found themselves passing several preserved heads, presumably from less fortunate trespassers. Even the Thep Khufan heads looked decidedly dead. As they were passing the final head, it suddenly sang out, "I ain't got no body and no body cares for me!" There was some universal screaming before the 'head' re-constituted as NegaMorph. "Your faces...priceless…" he laughed .

Matt's eye twitched as he said, "NegaMorph, just because I can't manipulate plasma anymore doesn't mean I won't inflict heavy pain on you if you don't explain how you got here."

"I got in through a crack in the wall," said NegaMorph, "But when that goon noticed me, I played dead. Good thing it doesn't know how to scan plasma-based beings."

Matt however was looking at a bat-like skeleton on the floor. "Revenites...dead ones. Looks like they've been here centuries...and look, terminals. This was some kind of lab," he said, gesturing to several apparent stones with symbols arranged in keyboard fashion .

"Revenites? Those like Vladats?" asked Ben.

"Never heard of Vladats. Revenites were some kinda evil alien vampires. Before me and my sis ever got to Nullspace, Combine and NSC teamed up to eradicate them," said Matt, wiping dust off the keyboard and causing them to light up, strips lighting up along the walls, illuminating a ship in the distance, heavily damage and useless and another sealed door.

"Kr'ka no din zak vor," said a voice.

"What did it say?" asked Rook.

"Not a clue," said Matt, the voice repeating the same words .

"Skurd, mind switching on the translator?" asked Ben.

"It is on," said Skurd, "This language simply predates translator technology."

"Or it isn't equipped to handle language from another part of the multiverse," said Matt.

"Translation complete...awaiting orders," said the voice at that .

"Oh, that's convenient," said Matt, "I suppose I should be used to that by now. Computer, run data logs."

"Error...this facility answers only to researcher Archon Azedor," said the computer .

"Who's that?" asked Ben.

"Presumably Slim down there," said NegaMorph, pointing at the skeleton.

"Computer, is there any non-classified intelligence?" asked Matt.

The computer seemed to wait before saying, "This facility is an observation laboratory used for production of new terraforming technology. The Gaia Mirror was the result."

"Mirror? What mirror?" asked Ben.

"Information restricted," said the computer before a marine called out "What about this freaky thing?"

The guys went over to look and found themselves starting at a tall wall mirror. However, instead of their normal reflections, they had monstrous reflections that resembled the natives. Matt and Rook's reflections looked like Loboans while Ben's looked like a zombified version of him. "Scans indicate this thing's the tech we've been looking for," said a marine.

"You're kidding," said NegaMorph, "All this brouhaha over a dumb funhouse mirror?" He walked up to the mirror and looked at his reflection. It was no surprise that his appearance was unaltered. It was a surprise when the reflection screamed and ran through a door reflected in the mirror.

"Nah, look at this, emitters. This thing must send out a pulse of something...nasty," said another marine .

"Zs'Skayr had a mirror like this upstairs," said Ben, "It created evil monster reflections that came out and attack you."

"Musta been a knock off," said Matt, tapping the mirror which rippled like liquid before he slapped his hands together, "Well, least we got it. Captain, get an engineering team down here. I want this mirror in a Pelican in ten minutes and in the sun in half an hour."

"You're just gonna toss it in the sun?" asked Ben.

"It might look like a party trick, but it's a doomsday device," said Matt, "Don't know how it is, but we're not taking chances."

"Sir, we got a problem. Auto-turrets in quadrant 6 just all went dark at the same time," said a voice in Matt's ear at that

"Now what?" groaned Matt.

"Hold on...sir, we have sensor silhouettes approaching from quadrant 6. Multiple Incursean warships in attack formation," said the voice .

"Not them again," groaned Ben, "I hope Attea's not with them."

"Ok, I think our stay's over. I'll stay and make sure the mirrors moved. Aria, get the ship to code red. Those Incursean idiots do not set one foot on this planet," snapped Matt.

* * *

On the Incursean command ship, the leader of the Incurseans was being addressed. "Lord Empress Attea, light of the Incursean Empire, destroy of galaxies, keeper of-"

"Get to the point already, Raff!" snapped Attea.

"We're almost on top of the ship that blew up our border patrols. Looks like it's parked on top of Anur Transyl. Must be in pretty bad shape, sensors say it's breaking up," said Raff, looking at a sensor feed.

Attea took one look at the feed and snapped, "That's a fleet deployment, you dolt! Scramble the armada!"

On cue, several shots flew out of the storm of webs, several striking destroyers, sending them out of control or blowing them apart. A line of ships could be seen hovering in place before a hologram appeared on the ship's viewscreen. "Have I got your attention?" said Aria .

"What are you humans doin' out here?" demanded Attea.

"Sightseeing. I don't believe the NSC's business is any of yours," sneered Aria .

"This ain't the NSC's turf," snapped Attea.

"Neither is it the Incurseans'," replied Aria. Aria seemed to pause before saying darkly, "Is it a game of firepower? I believe we trump you there by a few centuries."

"You got no idea what the Incursean Armada is capable of," said Attea.

"Oh yes, is that why we blew away 4 of your precious destroyers in one volley?" sneered Aria .

"Listen Missy, you don't want me to come over there. If you got something worth nabbin', I'm takin' it," said Attea.

"I have better things to do than listen to the baseless posturing of a spoiled brat," said Aria, "So if you're going to do something, get it over with already."

Attea looked furious at that as the signal went dead. "What are you waitin' for? Start firin'!" she snapped .

"Uh, Empress, should we not determine a weakspot to-" started Raff before he had to hop back to avoid getting shot.

"I said start firin'!" snapped Attea.

* * *

The battle meanwhile was definitely getting noticed, the sky filled with explosions as the Novus Star's fleet went to town on the Incursean fleet. Needless to say there was panic...and in all this Matt was having a nervous breakdown as yet another supposedly easy mission circled into the drain of 'smeg' again .

"We weren't even supposed to be here. We weren't even supposed to be in this time!" snapped Matt. Rook and Scout were naturally puzzled as to why Matt was choosing this moment to have a full-on freak out, but for Ben, this was just bringing back memories.

Just then, an Incursean fighter ship pulled up beside them. "Halt, hand over the weapon or face annihilation," said one of the soldiers on the ship.

The reply was Matt firing a rather accurate blast into the fighter's engine sending it into the ground, its crew staggering out and meeting a ballistic Matt coming the other way. Needless to say, even NegaMorph winced a bit before he said over the clonking noises, "The NSC still has that 'reading rights' rule right? He's _really_ reading them."

"Matt mellows out later," said Ben before reconsidering his words and saying, "Well, a bit more. Ok, he at least doesn't go berserk every time."

NegaMorph nodded before sidestepping as an Incursean trooper was sent flying to land in a dazed heap, Matt bashing the other one repeatedly against his fighter snapping "STOP HITTING YOUR SHIP!" over and over .

"So, Matt and Kala eventually tie the knot?" asked NegaMorph.

"Yeah, but I probably shouldn't talk a lot about that," said Ben.

Matt finally let go of the pilot, the luckless Incursean making dazed burblings before sliding down. "Stupid gits!" he snapped before the first pilot fired at him, the laser bouncing off the armor and into the mirror which began to ripple more, several crystals in the frame lighting up before the Incursean's reflection, that of a Thep Khufan and which was the only visible whole one, turned to look at him, turned into light and shot at him. The Incursean yelped and tried to avoid the beam, but it hit him anyways.

When the light cleared, a confused looking Thep Khufan with green coloring was looking around before spotting the group, screaming 'MONSTERS' and running away. "Oh...that's why it's class 12," said Matt cheerfully .

"Huh, wonder what it would do for me," said NegaMorph, looking at the mirror. His reflection was hiding behind a seat and only stole brief glances at NegaMorph.

"Clearly your DNA is too warped to have an Anur equivalent," said Rook, "Which makes me wonder why it would be set to Anurians in the first place."

"Terraformer, what if it was intended to turn people into revenites? If it decided the Anurs had superior DNA…" said Matt darkly .

"Revenites were basically alien doppelgangers, weren't they?" asked NegaMorph, "I mean, that had that whole bloodsucking, UV intolerance thing, but they were closer to chameleons than vampires, weren't they?"

"Yeah, no wonder their terraformer decided to ignore them," said Matt darkly .

"Seems pretty small scale for a terraformer," said Ben.

"You saw what one laser bolt did. Imagine if you fed a reactor to it," said Matt, the image already in his mind, a wall of energy terraforming everything it touched without mercy, changing the compatible and reducing the incompatible to DNA sludge.

"In that case, would not throwing it into the sun have that effect?" asked Rook.

"Fine, black hole it is. Or we have the spiderbots dismantle it," said Matt casually, the group ducking for a second as an Incursean fighter went overhead, chased by two Broadswords from the Novus Star.

"Shouldn't we wrap this thing or something?" asked Ben, getting a healthy distance between him and the mirror.

"Well, we shone lights on it...must need a certain amount of energy. WHERE THE HECK'S THAT PELICAN?" said Matt, snapping the last part, the aforementioned Pelican flying into view

"Was not that model recalled for terrible flight performance?" asked Rook.

"It's a brand new...I hate time travel," snapped Matt, the back opening up and two engineers running out.

"To be honest, these things drop like pine cones," said NegaMorph.

Matt glared and threw NegaMorph into the mirror at that. NegaMorph vanished through the surface and did not come out the other side. The engineers turned the mirror around, but NegaMorph didn't appear in any angle. "Should we not be concerned by that?" asked Rook.

"He'll be fine. He's been killed once before. Didn't even stop him," said Matt cheerfully, helping push the mirror in. "TO THE NEAREST BLACK HOLE!" he called cheerfully, spoilt slightly as the engineer dropped the mirror frame on his foot just as the Pelican's bay door closed

"I'm thinking we'd be better off with some other ship," said Skurd.

* * *

However, it wasn't just the Incurseans watching. On Luna Lobo, a single ship that would have looked familiar to the people who found the mirror was watching. "Research Archon...the mirror has been removed from containment. The security drone is not responding...orders?" asked the computer calmly to a shadowy shape .

"The mirror must not leave this system," said the shadowy figure, "Prepare anti-aircraft guns."

"Confirmed...target traced to NSC transport vessel. Alert...an NSC tech retrieval fleet is in-system," said the computer .

"Really? You don't say," said the figure sarcastically.

"Firing would cause a 92% probability that our position would be detected and a hostile response would occur," said the computer.

The figure paused. "Wait till those Incursean ships get close, then fire. It'll look like they did it," he said calmly .

"Confirmed," said the computer.

"Ok...FIRE!" snapped the figure.

* * *

Three plasma bursts shot out as a Pelican dived through the atmosphere to try and lose two Incursean fighters. The first took the Pelican's left wing off, sending it into a tailspin while the other two blew the fighters to shreds.

* * *

"Targets neutralized...alert, survivors detected...scans also indicate the explosion as partially activated the mirror," said the computer, the shape sighing.

"Open the airlock, I'll get the mirror personally."

* * *

While the new armor did protect Matt from most damage, it didn't protect him from all damage. Namely from cushioning big falls. He settled for groaning, his whole body aching, except for his foot that felt ice cold. He managed to raise his head to see that said foot was up to the knee in the mirror. "Oh...smeg," he moaned, jumping as he heard a begging voice cut off by an energy blast before something tore the bay doors off their hinges.

"Well...the great admiral... No...no, it's not you is it...well not yet," said a calm cultured voice .

"If you're gonna try and finish me off, you're going to be asking for more trouble than you can pay," said Matt with more bravado than he felt.

"Really? I can see from my scanner that four of your ribs are broke, one of your lungs is punctured and you have concussion. You won't be able to drink a cup of tea, let alone fire a gun, you idiot. I could kill you now or, even better, leave you for the feral Loboans," laughed the figure .

"I've handled savage werewolves before and those were the ones with bad bites," said Matt.

"It's not the Loboans' bite to be feared, it's their bark," said the figure. Matt gulped as a howl was heard, the figure looking at the mirror. "That is mine," he said angrily.

"Yeah right. The guy this belonged to has left his bones on the floor of the room we found it in," said Matt.

"No, that was my assistant, poor fool. The war caste wanted my creation. We objected," said the figure angrily before aiming a remote at the mirror.

"Override accepted...activating slow burn," said a voice.

The figure then stepped aside to let several more drones in who carefully lifted up the mirror and carried it out, another carefully removing Matt's leg from it. "Enjoy, a little present for a graverobber," sneered the figure.

"Hey, get back here," said Matt weakly before what sounded like a wolf pack howling was heard.

"Oh, you should fit right in if you get upset enough," laughed the Archon, vanishing like mist.

"Oh, this is gonna suck," groaned Matt before jumping as the sound of plasma fire was heard and a drop trooper peered in. "We got him, get the medics in here," he called .

* * *

Fortunately, the Incurseans were not too hard to force into retreat. Which was just about the brightest point of an otherwise failure of a mission.

Chloe, to the surprise of some of the crew, wasn't the pit of incomprehensible fury they expected when Matt was brought into the medical bay...however Kala happily took up that role and then some. She might not have the incredible pyrokinetic power she had previously, but at least had her old experiment power of throwing fiery plasma orbs which she was doing with great fury.

Luckily, given the size of the Novus Star, that meant that she got the medical bay to herself and the crew were taking bets on when she calmed down. "This is actually a usual day," explained Wilson to the three Plumber agents.

"I rather pity Matt for having her for a future wife," said Skurd.

"I'm not surprised they tie the knot. They're crazy for each other," said Techo, before saying, "Matt said some creep who said he was that Archon took the mirror...and given he had those drones with him and our track record, I believe him."

"But Matt said the Revenites have been extinct for centuries," said Rook.

"We've found a few exceptions," said Aria.

"Yeah, one of those freaks got aboard the ship while most of us were in stasis," said a marine, adding, "Why do you think we're following the nutter?"

"Yeah, but I'm still not crazy about hunting for him on one of the most dangerous worlds in the Anur system," said Ben.

"Actually, considering the radioactive desert of Anur Khufos, unfathomable swamps and oceans of Anur Milligan, the shrouded mysteries of Anur Phaetos , and the death world that was once Anur Vladias, I would say that Luna Lobo is not the most dangerous world," said Rook.

"Fine, the most dangerous _moon_ in the Anur system," said Ben.

"It doesn't matter. Unless an Incursean pilot got really lost in the retreat, there was a jump point going in the opposite direction. Whoever took the mirror left the system," said Aria calmly .

"Well, let's get moving then," snapped Kala, "I want to rip out this bastard's ribs!"

"That's the trouble. It passed through Sol but we lost it from there...maybe SECT spotted something?" said Chris faintly, wilting as Kala increased her glare with each word .

"Let's just follow him until the trail warms up," said Ben.

Scout nodded. "Your computer knocked out all the communications as well. I'll need to deliver my report to the Magister personally," he said pointedly, the words 'Consider it payment for wrecking said comms' all but unspoken.

"Alright, fine, full speed ahead," snapped Kala.

* * *

"Still nothing, Magister. The jamming's ceased but we still can't reach Anur," said a technician .

"Keep calling. I want to know what's going on over there," said Max.

"Yes, Magis...Magister. Something's decelerating from hyperspace just outside lunar orbit...it's big," the tech said, horrified before an incoming transmission was detected. "Orbital control, this is NSS Novus star, requesting orbital trajectory."

"Sir, isn't the Novus Star supposed be stationed in the Andromeda Galaxy?" asked Jerry.

"Apparently it still is," said Max, "Patch them through."

The com flickered before showing a busy video and a full-masked individual looking like a crystal version of an anthro red dragoness. "Tell me where the Archon creep went now!" snapped the figure before the feed cut off and the image of an African American woman replaced it.

"Forgive Ms. Triseptus, she is not in a reasonable mood right now," said Aria., "I am Aria, currently in charge because A: Miss Triseptus here is in what can only be described as a bad mood and B: the commander's in the medical bay speed healer for multiple broken bones. We have several of your people on board who interfered with a tech recovery operation."

Max sighed and said, "And I suppose you're not just here to drop off Ben and Rook."

"I will require a wireless access to your sensor net and all files. Our quarry passed through here and might even still be landed," said Aria before she looked off-screen and Max saw Matt walk into view, looking worse than when he'd gone a round with Tuatara.

"Maxwell," said Matt.

"If you're going after this guy because of what he did to you, I wouldn't recommend it," said Max, "Revenge can make a fellow really ugly."

"Oh, I'm not wanting payback, ok, maybe a little," said Matt, "It's mostly Kala who wants payback. We're just trying to keep him from getting away from a terraforming device of doomsday proportions."

Aria nodded. "The computer actually updated our dangerous tech rating by 4 levels to accommodate it. If someone activates it, and we've seen what it does, Anur will have a brand new colony," she said darkly .

"Is it corrodium-based? It usually leaves a strong signature," said Max.

"No, we suspect it belongs to a race called revenites, extinct 1154 years ago when the NSC and Combine leadership took punitive action," said Aria .

Max turned to Patelliday and asked, "Can you call up all the interstellar traffic within the last hour?"

"Shouldn't be a problem," said Patelliday.

"I have something," said another tech, a view appearing from an orbital satellite, an arrow-shaped ship appearing the satellite zooming in and trying to compare it to known ships before a red beam lanced out, peeling up and reducing the view to static .

"Any other suspicious activity?" asked Max.

"No, there was a few sightings of the same ship before it seemed to blank out all the scans," said the tech.

Matt nodded. "EMR bomb, we use the same tech to insert teams. You won't find footage, though that means he's on world somewhere," he said .

"Hang on, I just picked up a subspace rip," said Patelliday, "It's fairly fresh, can't quite make out where the other end of it is."

"Nah...too obvious," said Matt calmly.

"Well, if I had to guess, I'd say this fella's left that rip open so he can make a quick getaway," said Patelliday.

"Yeah, no plasma signature, he just opened it and left it. Guy must be planetside," said a Novus tech .

"Where precisely?" demanded Matt.

"No way, too many ships on Earth coming and going. Needle in a haystack," said a crewmember .

"Well, if he's looking for something on Earth, there's only one-stop place that he'd go," said Max.

* * *

"An entire alien colony?" said Matt, the group staring down Undertown's street. Chloe however looked extremely pleased. _"All these alien races...all these potential target practice people,"_ she thought happily as Matt asked. "So...where's Gwen?"

"She's at college with Kevin," said Ben.

"Oh, Kevin's out of lockup, good for him. After he helped clean up that NYC outbreak, nice to know it got him parole," said Matt cheerfully .

"Uh...it's a long story," said Ben, "Probably shouldn't spoil it too much."

Matt nodded, looking up before glaring at a silhouette on an orange-armored truck. "That little porcupine..." he snapped.

"Let me guess, Argit cut you a bad deal once or something," said Ben.

"Nope, helped a Class Z almost dehydrate India," said Matt simply before his head whipped round like a hawk acquiring lunch. "Oh, speak of the laser target...OI, YOU!" he yelled, spotting the target of his rage .

"No refunds," said Argit automatically.

"Nah, this is more of a return. I'm returning a plasma magnum clip's contents TO YOUR FACE YOU DEMON-HELPING NUTBALL!" screamed Matt, Kala and Chloe trying to grab him .

"What's with this guy?" asked Argit.

"I honestly don't know this time," said Ben, "He's a time traveler so things might not make much sense around him."

Matt glared before pointing his plasma pistol up Argit's nose. "Captain Lynch, does Delhi ring a bell?" said Matt insanely .

"Uh...no, not really," said Argit.

Matt glared before pressing a button on his wrist comp, a shot of a rooftop appearing. "Explain this, rodent. Make it good and I'll only shoot your kneecap off," he said manically .

Argit peered at and said, "Oh wait, yeah, I told some crazy mutant lady some bogus rumor about something and she ended up dragging me along on her revenge thing. The only thing worth remembering from that is I owed the Vreedles more money."

"Ok, I understand it's probably been half a decade since then soooo...I'll give you a ten second head start," said Matt grinning a little manically.

"He's not serious, right?" asked Argit before Matt said happily "1...2...3..." Argit screamed and automatically shot out several quills before running.

"...4...ah smeg it...10!" screamed Matt, though luckily Rook and Kala dogpiled him before he could fire .

"Matt, we're not here to blow up Argit. We've got an evil mimic to catch, remember?" pointed out Ben.

"Can we blow the little jerk up later?" asked Matt before looking around to see Chloe and Chris snoring on the floor, the quills having hit them

"Not if you want to get on the bad side of his Techadon robots," said Ben, "Besides, he's kinda got a reputation as a 'hero' here and you'd be doing more harm than good if you blasted him without reason."  
"Wait...Argit...the creep who helped a demon almost drink me...a hero...with class 6 tech at his disposal...is this an alternate timeline again?" asked Matt, looking around .

"Yeah, I know, it's weird. Personally I think the Celestialsapiens like messing with my head," said Ben.

"Urgh...ok, this is your beat. You're a scumbag alien chameleon with an ego that planets orbit. Where would you go?" said Matt .

"Hmm...I bet ChamAlien could give us some insight," said Ben as he activated the Omnitrix. However, he ended up as Wildmutt instead.

"Ugh, how repulsive," said Skurd, "Hardly my choice of aliens." Wildmutt growled at Skurd who only said, "Sorry, dear boy, bit hard to make you out."

"Ok, lead the way, doggy," said Matt, looking at Techo, "Send Chris and Chloe after us when they wake up."

Techo nodded and said, "They should wake up soon. Want me to get some boys to back you up?"  
Matt thought about it before saying, "Sure, why not?"

"If we enlist too much manpower, it could alert the fugitive and allow him to slip away," said Rook, "I suggest a minimally-crewed team."

"Oh, and what makes you think you can boss me around?" asked Matt.

"My rank as Plumber Magister," said Rook.

"Fine, but I get to bring one of my guns," said Matt childishly .

Meanwhile, Wildmutt was sniffing around for a scent when he suddenly gave out a roar/bark. Matt and Rook watched as Ben headed off down the street. "I count that as yes," said Matt happily, running after him.

* * *

"I hear you are the one to come to if I need equipment for a ship...why are some of your quills missing...and why are you talking vial holo?" said the Archon, looking at the trio of Techadon robots in front of him .

"Let's just say I've met some bad company today," said Argit, "So, what kind of parts can Argitstix Security get for you?"

"A drix type energy crystal, four cases of grav rifles, two pounds of DRX -17 explosives and a positronic circuit board," said the Archon, his drones returning the glare of the Techadon robots, one causing Argit to gulp. Its optic was smashed revealing a reptilian eye .

"Uh, that stuff's not gonna be easy to get," said Argit.

"Why not?" demanded the Archon. "Well, most of those things are out of stock...everywhere. I might be able to that circuit board, but it's not gonna be cheap."

"Money is not an object. However, if you attempt to say, blackmail me, I will personally tear out your jugular," said the Archon icily .

"Uh, not a problem," said Argit, "I'll have that circuit for ya in a few days."

"I want it in one hour or I'll be forced to find someone who can," said the Archon personally, before pausing as one of the drones behind him slowly turned its head to peer at the door, "Alas, it appears it will have to be someone else. Drones, remove the witnesses."

* * *

Not completely unsurprisingly, Wildmutt's nose led them to Argit's place of business. "I knew it, the little weasel!" snapped Matt, stomping forward, only for two Techadon bots to get in his way. "Out the way, you C-3P0 rejects!" snapped Matt .

"Do you have an appointment?" asked one of them.

"There's a megalomaniac alien inside your building who's probably trying to eradicate your boss as we speak. I'd like to go in and shoot the aforementioned alien till he tells me to stop reading him his rights," said Matt in a mock cheerful voice .

"Do you have an appointment?" repeated the Techadon.

"It's an emergency. Lemme in, you jumped up toaster!" snapped Matt, kicking the bot .

The Techadon simply grabbed Matt by the head and started carrying him towards a nearby dumpster, ignoring his muffled protests. The bot simply dropped Matt inside the luckily empty dumpster and said "Please make an appointment during business hours." before the doors burst open and Argit ran out, two ghostly green orbs shooting out, one hitting a wall which rippled and fell into dust, two of the drones from Anur leaping through the doorway, surveying the crowd.

Wildmutt roared before leaping on top of one of the drones and biting it. The drone didn't even seem to flinch even as it was bit, before grabbing Wildmutt and throwing him into the dumpster next to Matt's. "New witnesses logged. Moderate damage to unit. Status: 54% battle efficient. Unlogged species. Status: Hostile witness. Action: Elimination." it said darkly, before its fellows lunged at the dumpster

Just then, the Omnitrix timed out and Ben said, "Bleh, this thing smelled bad enough as Wildmutt."

"Then how about something a bit more advanced now?" asked Matt.

"Uh, I need a minute to charge up," said Ben, "Think you can cover?"

"Error...target removed from play...re-acquiring..." said one of the drones, the two pausing before they finally realized they were being shot at, turning to see Rook and Kala firing repeatedly. "New targets aquired. Unidentified hybrid and Revonnahgander logged. Class 2 weapon technology. Threat: Moderate. Action: Elimination." before one of the drones lunged at Rook who easily dodged before it backhanded Kala into a wall while the other finally decided to continue towards Ben and Matt, who was trying to get his weapon to work .

"Ok, I'm good now," said Ben before changing into Feedback. "Ok, hit me with your best shot," said Feedback.

The drone paused, looking at feedback befo4re saying "Analysis: Energy weapons would result in mirrored attack. Conclusion: Switching to ballistic and melee weaponry," it said calmly, a clack coming from its wrist gun and its claws getting a few inches longer .

"Ok, didn't expect that," said Feedback.

"That's why you have me around," said Skurd before creating a Diamondhead sword, shield, and helmet for Feedback.

The drone tilted its head at that before aiming to shoot before a blast hit it in the side, Matt having gotten his guns working. "Error...Atlantean tech...reanalyzing..." it began before Ben brought the sword down on its shoulder. "Warning: system at 32%...23%...11%...system failure," it managed before Matt blew its head off at close range.

"All it takes is a little teamwork," said Feedback.

"Just like old times...except this time NegaMorph's a good guy," said Matt cheerfully.

* * *

"Surrender and destruction will be rapid," said the drone calmly, attempting to eviscerate Rook, the blows always missing by a millimeter every time. Fortunately, Rook had gotten his Proto-Tool into its shield configuration by then, though that barely helped.

The drone had finally settled back for firing rapid fire shots before pausing as it saw its fellow drones torn apart. "Alert: Combat conditions approaching uncontainable levels," it said, backing up, firing at both parties

"Ok, I think we got it on the ropes now," said Kala.

"I do not see any ropes," said Rook, sounding confused.

"Scanning...chance of capture of creator tech: 100%. Taking appropriate response," said the drone, putting its blaster under its chin and firing.

Kala blinked and said, "Ok, didn't expect that."

Matt looked around before spotting a third dumpster shaking. "Hmm…" he muttered before firing a low level tazer round at it, causing Argit to jump out of it with a yelp. "Hi, rat boy. Let's talk about the murderous robots, shall we?" said Matt cheerfully .

"They aren't mine! I swear!" yelped Argit.

"I kind of guessed that given one tried to kill us 2 days ago. Where's their owner?" snapped Kala, picking up Argit.

"He's in there!" said Argit, pointing at his building.

Matt and Kala looked at each other before running forward, Ben and Rook behind them. Matt peered round the doorway before running into the corridor, a sneering voice seemingly from everywhere saying, "Well, you seem to be looking well. NSC nanotech was always effective."

"If you knew anything about me, you'd know I'm very hard to put down," said Matt.

"Oh, I know all about you, Captain. All you have to do is let me leave and I will never trouble you or your own again. The mirror is mine. Take your punishment like, how do you say, a man? Well, while it still applies," sneered the voice

"What did you do to him, you monster?!" snapped Kala.

"Now that would spoil the surprise, wouldn't it?" said the voice.

Kala growled before tossing a fireball at the voice, the fireball illuminating a cloaked figure on a rafter holding a bulky pistol. "Hi," it sneered, firing a translucent blue ball of energy that pulverized the ground. The impact made both Matt and Kala stagger, enough time for the figure to slip away.

"Now then, what should I do with you four? Two reject Khans out of their time, a child playing with genetic technology beyond his understanding and an overevolved feline alien playing as lawgiver," sneered the voice.

"You do anything to us and the universe is doomed," said Kala.

"So? I could always find another universe to live in. Anyhow, have a little present, an overloaded gravity gun clip," laughed the figure, a small disc dropping down, beeping rapidly .

"Hang on, I got this," said Ben before changing into Gravattack.

"Skurd, need some Feedback hands," said Gravattack.

Matt nodded, running out and yelling "EVERYBODY BACK!" getting a few looks before being ignored. "You try to be sensible..." Matt muttered before firing a burst skywards .

Meanwhile, Gravattack was channeling as much gravity energy from the gun as he could, but it still looked ready to detonate. "Ok, need to get this thing out of here," said Gravattack before changing into planet form and flying off with the gun. Matt and the others dived for cover as Gravattack exited via the roof. Gravattack vanished skywards before a whomph was seen in the sky, everyone briefly going weightless for a second.

"Remember kids, gravity weapons are not a toy. Gravity shoes are," said Matt dizzily.

Kala managed to clear her head before looking up and yelping "INCOMING!" pointing to where Gravattack was headed back down.

"Oh, don't worry, he'll stop himself any second...any second now..." said Matt nervously. "Any second no-TAKE COVER!" yelped Matt, diving for cover .

Gravattack came crashing into the ground like a meteorite. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, but he did crash into the front of a store. The smoke had barely drifted away before a high-pitched voice yelled, "TENNYSON!"

Matt peered out to see Ben staggering out the rubble, the impact having timed the Omnitrix out. "Nice, you survived," Matt said cheerfully .

"Oh, I've survived worse," said Ben a bit dizzily.

"I can believe that," said Matt calmly, looking at the building, "He'll be long gone. Nothing like a bomb to occupy a cop's attention."

Just then, a short alien stomped out of the building and snapped, "Tennyson! Pakmar is growing sick of you always ruining Pakmar's businesses!"

Matt turned his head at that and strolled over. "Hey, peewee. That's my buddy you're talking to," he said happily.

Pakmar took one look at Matt and yelped, "MATTHEW LYNCH?!" He then ran away screaming.

Matt blinked and asked, "Was it something I said?" Rook seemed ready to say something before Matt said, "On second thoughts, no spoilers please. I can look forward to it at a later date."

"Well, at least we know what he's after," said Kala before hoisting up Argit by his jacket collar, "Isn't that right?"

"He just wanted some parts. It wasn't even illegal," helped Argit.

Matt said, "Wrong, if it was legal, why'd he go to you?"

"He just wanted a bunch of antique parts," said Argit, "Most of them don't even exist even more."

"You said 'most', not 'all'," said Kala, "What part can still be found?"

"Uh, a positronic circuit board," said Argit, "Not that he'll be able to find one that easily."

"Hah, the only one _not_ on my ships probably in Plumber HQ or something," sneered Matt .

"So he will be soon be assaulting one of those two places," said Rook.

Matt nodded, turning on his com and walking off. Kala however said, "No, he won't go for our ship. Fight through a whole army? Not likely."

"And let's face it, Plumber HQ doesn't have the best security," said Ben.

"But will it not be more difficult to break into a space station rather than a ground station?" asked Rook.

Kala shook her head, "Doesn't matter. The Novus isn't even able to land. The HQ's probably closer."

"We better get back there then," said Ben.

"Great. I don't have wings anymore so..." began Matt before the group vanished, leaving Argit hanging in the air for a second before he fell to the ground.

* * *

"...I'm a chargrilled haddock of Somalia," giggled Matt, falling over to smoke gently .

"The teleporter needs finer tuning," said Driba.

"No, it needs to be adjusted for crystalline armor," said Blukic.

"No it doesn't."

"Yes it does."

"Not it doesn't."

"Yes it does."

Matt groaned, "I'm gonna step on whoever was meant to calibrate that death trap. But first, you might have a vampiric intruder."

"You think we beat him here?" asked Ben.

"Probably not, I'm here," said Matt to himself .

"So where would a positronic circuit board be kept?" asked Kala.

"You mean the positronic circuit board on the orbital stabilizers? The only thing stopping up plummeting to Earth?" said Blukic casually.

Matt and Kala stared before saying "That's the one, yeah."

"You mean our station's orbit is hinged on one little thing that could be stolen?" asked Ben.

"I told you we should have upgraded the orbit stabilizers," said Driba.

"No you didn't," said Blukic.

"Yes I did." "No you didn't."

"SILENCE!" yelled Matt, his patience finally running out, "You two, sound the alarm or double the guard or do something. A psycho is coming to steal your circuit board and I don't think he cares where we land."

"I am on it," said Rook, as he typed on his computer.

"Fine, now then," said Kala before the lights flickered. "Erm...tell me you guys just forgot to pay your lighting bill," she said weakly as the lights began to go out

"Which way to the stabilizers?" asked Ben.

"The stabilizers are located on the lower deck," said Rook.

"TO THE LOWER DECK!" yelled Matt, running in a random direction, vanishing round a corner before Kala facepalmed and said "That's not the way, is it?"

"Nope," said both Driba and Blukic.

"Hmm, he'll be fine." said Kala finally before saying "Which way?"

* * *

In the lower deck, the Archon's drones were busy dismantling the stabilizer to get at what he needed.

"Hurry up!" snapped the Archon, looking around at the unconscious Plumbers and wishing he'd been given military caste backing so he could have made a few thralls.

"Positronic circuit board located," said one drone.

"Good, start removing it," snapped the Archon.

"Error...target is powering orbital stabilization system. Removal would degrade orbit to critical levels," said the drone

"Can we escape to the ship before the station enters the atmosphere?" asked the Archon unconcerned.

"Confirmed," said the drone before the Archon snapped "Then proceed."

"Acknowledged," said the drone before it started uninstalling the circuit board."

The Archon nodded before pausing as one of his remote camera bugs triggered, showing Kala, Rook and ben heading for them, a second showing Matt running towards the brig, dangerously close to where his ship was docked. "Hmm...what's the most hostile inmate aboard?" he muttered .

There was a pause as the drone searched before saying, "Currently, one criminal by the alias of 'Rojo' is incarcerated on this station."

"Unlock his cell," said the Archon .

"Actually, the criminal is female," said the drone.

"I don't care. Just do it!" snapped the Archon.

* * *

Matt ran round a corner, heading for the 14th door he'd so far tried. "Come ooon orbital stabilizer," he muttered, kicking the door open and groaning, back, yet again in the brig. "Who has a brig that takes up 90% of their base?" he groaned .

He was just about to leave when an alarm sounded. "Hey, I've been looking for the stabilizer for the last 10 minutes," snapped Matt.

However, the alarm announcement said, "Alert, a prisoner is escaping, detention level 11."

Matt stopped, turning slowly to see a cell just further down sliding open. "Oh poop," he muttered, activating his armor's helmet.

The woman who walked out of her cell didn't seem like a big threat. She reminded Matt more of a biker chick than an intergalactic criminal, but you never could tell these days.

"Ok, lady. I don't know your rap sheet but if these guys have you on lockdown, you're bad news. Back in the box or I put you there with some broken bones," he snapped, his wrist cannons whining threateningly as he pointed them .

The woman cricked her neck and said, "Step aside, junior. You're just gonna get bruised if you mess with me."

Matt narrowed his eyes, the optics on his helmet mirroring the expression before he fired a blast, the shot leaving a crater in the reinforced floor. "Next shot's through your chest. I'm not a Plumber so I don't sign up to their rules about prisoners," he snapped, the mouth on his suit copying.

"Cute costume, your mom made it for you for Halloween?" said Rojo.

"Nope, Atlantean weaponsmiths," said Matt icily before firing two concussion rounds, the big brothers of stunners, into her chest .

Rojo was knocked back, but still on her feet. "Oh, so you got some punch," she said with a smirk, "I've always been wondering if someone would eventually get armor to rival mine." With that, she let loose a couple of wrist missiles.

Matt yelped, before activating the suit's wings and leaping up, just before the missiles blew apart where he'd been standing. "Fine, let's play. Tag, you're it!" he snapped, firing a hail of plasma fire .

A trio of shots from her wrist blasters hit several plasma bursts, causing an explosion that blew away the rest. Matt jumped a little as his optics zoomed in, info appearing as the armor took its own look. "Warning...possible tech contamination... Chimera Sui Generis drone tech. Threat level: 9," it said, Matt gulping.

"Ok, so you've got good aim, but let's see how fast you can shoot," said Matt before setting his plasma launcher on Gatling mode. With that he opened up with a full barrage, hundreds of plasma blasts pelting Rojo .

Rojo couldn't avoid all the hits that time, but she was able to fling a grenade right into Matt's face. Matt yelped, raising his hands on reflex as a year of old dragon instincts took over for a second, so he was definitely surprised when a red version of the old plasma shield sprung up and vaporized the grenade, though a warning symbol appeared, signifying a recharge was occurring . "Note to self: read owner's manual when this is over," he muttered to himself.

He yelped however as Rojo leapt up and punched him on the helmet snout, sending him backflipping back . "Gotta admit, you've got balls, so to speak," said Matt.

"I was about to say the same about you," said Rojo.

"Ow, that was a low blow," said Matt.

He yelped in pain at that as a voice in his helmet said "Integration with damaged Khan network complete. Full armor functionality online."

Unfortunately, this distracted Matt long enough for Rojo to punch him in the gut. He doubled over before Rojo brought her knee up under his chin, a sound almost like breaking glass heard as it damaged the suit but also sadly knocking his senses back, as his hands shot up and grabbed her foot as she tried a roundhouse kick, the claws gripping painfully and Matt snarling, revealing some cybernetic fangs .

"Lady, you burn me up," growled Matt before doing what would have in his dragon form would have resulted in breathing plasma, hoping his armor can replicate that. In response, the nostrils on the helmet slid open to reveal two heavy duty-looking energy emitters, two plasma blasts hitting Rojo in the face . Fortunately, her helmet had a blast shield that came down in time, but Matt's attack still sent her flying into the wall.

Matt glared, getting steady before striding forward calmly. "You honestly have no idea who you are dealing with, punk. I face things that'd turn your hair white on a daily basis. Alien monsters? Check. Eldritch, albeit extremely incompetent undead horror? You got it. Idiots like you usually don't even get my notice," he said in a dark conversational tone.

When Rojo didn't respond, Matt checked his sensors. Rojo was still alive, but definitely down for the count. "Darn, I was building up to such a good thing too," said Matt.

"Confirmed, Khan. Accessing internal sensors...Alert: Power fluctuating in orbital stabilizers. Plotting waypoint path to epicenter and placing on H.U.D.," said the suits computer calmly .

"Oh for the love of...where the smeg is that stupid stabilizer?!" snapped Matt.

"Accessing base computer for directions," said his suit's computer.

* * *

"Final security countermeasures bypassed," said the drone, reaching in and removing a glowing circuit board, the lights on the stabilizer flickering and a male voice saying "Warning: Stabilizer failure. You have 20 minutes to avoid orbital failure."

"Let us be off," said the Archon calmly as if he had only taken a book from the library.

The drones slammed their fists against their chests in an anarchic salute before one of them suddenly jerked as a fireball blasted through its chest from behind. The Archon turned to see Kala, Ben, and Rook. "Drop the circuit board and I won't add 'limb removal' to the beatdown I'm going to give you," growled Kala.

The Archon raised an eyebrow. "By all means, take your best shot," he sneered, a fireball shooting at him before stopping in mid-air. "Do you know that most of my species are very accomplished psykers?" he said, adding, "Of course. My order's oaths forbid me to use them in any method other than harmless research or defensive. Drones, obliterate them." The drones dropped into a fighting stance and charging .

"Ok, time for Jury Rigg," said Ben as he slammed on the Omnitrix. As the drone charged him, there was a flash of green light and it was suddenly carrying something a lot squishier. "Upgrade? Even better," said Ben before morphing around the drone.

The other drones all turned, one with a normal looking eye that was suddenly a pinprick of incomprehensible fury, turning their blasters on Upgrade .

"My boy, I think it's time you utilize the semi-fluid viscosity your current race is known for," said Skurd.

"Say what?" asked Upgrade before the drones started blasting holes in him. He was soon reduced to a puddle of technorganic ooze, but he was far from dead.

"Ben, if I may make a suggestion, perhaps you should use your current form to upgrade the stabilizer before the station loses its orbit," said Rook.

The Archon, through all this, was watching with a calm and stern expression, Rook noticing to his surprise that the alien seemed to be taking down notes. He couldn't help but mentally compare the Archon to Master Kundo when he trained in his dojo. Of course, Kundo was a lot more hands-on than the Archon and more willing to berate.

Such thoughts were removed when a drone dropped in front of him and attempted to shoot at point blank range . Rook responded by whacking the drone in the face with his Proto-Tool's tonfa configuration. The blow was hard enough to actually knock off the drone's faceplate.

The drone turned back to reveal a grey skinned humanoid face with red reptilian eyes and what could only be described at fangs. The 'drone' hissed angrily before lunging at Rook . "Kala, I do not think these drones were made in a factory," said Rook, "I think they have been converted from some other species."

"That's not new for me," said Kala as she was blasting at her own drone.

"We had to find some use for casteless," said the Archon calmly, not looking up from his notes as another drone's missed shot at Kala killed the one attempting to maul Rook via a back impact .

"You turned your own kind into mindless drone?" asked Rook with revulsion.

"Quite easily, actually," said the Archon calmly, catching the circuit board that the drone guarding it tossed to him just before Kala's suit claws ripped him apart. "Now then, I have some parts to find and thanks to your station's wonderful contribution, my ship can generate FTL fuel again," he said .

"Ben, stop him!" yelled Rook.

"Uh, kinda busy keeping the ship from crashing," said Upgrade who had fused with the stabilizer.

"Need I point it out or should I just do it myself?" said Skurd dryly before saying, "Ok, I'll just save you the bother." With that, he spat a load of sticky Goop goo at the Archon's feet to glue him in place.  
The Archon looked down and laughed. "That...to stop a transmat? Idiot," he sneered, shimmering from view.

"Skurd, next time, use Spidermonkey silk," said Upgrade.

"Oh, like that would have worked better," said Skurd.

The remaining drones all paused, looking around in confusion at the fact their master was gone. "Gee, the creepy left his flunkies behind to die in his place. How original," said Kala, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

The drones looked around as Rook said calmly, "You are under arrest. If you cooperate we may be able to reverse what has been done to-" before each drone shot themselves in perfect unison.

"Clearly they've been programmed to keep their technology out of the hands of other beings at all costs," said Kala, "Just watch, they'll disintegrate any second now."

"Hey, stabilizer," reminded Ben, as the station shuddered. "Warning: stabilizer power at 60% and failing."

"I thought you had this under control," said Kala.

"Upgrade might be able to improve technology, but he can't replace missing parts," said Upgrade, "Besides, it's only a matter of time before the Omnitrix times out."

Just then, Matt ran in and said, "Finally got here, where is the creep?"

* * *

Once Matt had been thoroughly chewed out by Kala and brought up to speed, he'd reluctantly had the Novus Star ship over their own positronic circuit board. "You look after this, you little gremlins. It's our ticket back to our time and Nullspace," he said pointedly, the suit off but his angry look still there as he passed it to Blukic and Driba.

"Yeah, and how about we upgrade the stabilizers so that they don't require one piece to keep from crashing?" asked Ben.

"Could take time," said Driba.

"It'd be easier just to order a replacement part," said Blukic.

"No it wouldn't," said Driba.

"Yes it would," said Blukic.

"Do you guys ever agree on anything?" asked Kala exasperated.

"Yes, we do." said Blukic, Driba adding "No we don't." causing Kala's grin to freeze in place, her eye twitching.

"Yeah, they're not the brightest Galvans in the galaxy, but they're cheap," said Ben.

"So, what happens to us?" said Matt, pointedly bringing up the Vaxasaurian in the room.

"Unless Professor Paradox shows up and offers you guys a ride home, I think your best bet is waiting it out for a few weeks for a replacement part," said Ben. He looked around expectedly before shrugging and saying, "Replacement it is."

* * *

The Archon sat back as he watched the Plumber HQ correct its orbit over the next hour, even more so as the Novus Star pulled close and a shuttle went over. "Hmm...resourceful little pests," he muttered, the computer saying "I cannot confirm that, sir."  
The Archon sighed at that. "It's rhetorical. Set a course out of system. But first, send footage of the Novus Star to the following address as well as some footage of their marine teams," he said calmly.

* * *

Well, here's the start of a brand new saga and it's taking place in familiar territory, in a manner of speaking. This story will be taking place just before the series finale. Considering the temporal nature of that finale, I can easily say that basically any amount of time can occur within this space, but not an extensive amount of course. This chapter is just the buildup and there's gonna be a lot more expansion with the next couple of chapters. The next chapter should be up soon so keep an eye out for it and please review.


	2. Hounded

**Reticence Saga**

**The Aliens Within**

**Chapter 2: Hounded**

"Good morning, I'm Will Harangue. Today, our precious planet faces a threat that could rival that of the destructive Ben Tennyson. Hovering above our planet is a ship crewed by dangerous mercenaries of the North Star Constellations company. For those of you who don't know, the North Stars Constellations, or NSC, is a mercenary organization that preposterously consider themselves the police in the more lawless places of the universe. The ship they are piloting, the Novus Star, happens to be one of the largest and most dangerous spaceships currently in use. And as if that weren't a hazard to our planet's safety, we've received that these mercenaries are actually time travelers from the past, from a savage war-torn time. Doubtlessly, they are here to steal information and technology so they can return to their time and change our present. Some may argue there are no grounds for such accusation, but I ask you this: if they have nothing to hide from us, why are they refusing interviews?"

The TV exploded at that, Matt lowering his blaster. "That little squid-faced son of a..." he began.

The others tuned out Matt's rage before Chris said, "That Harangue creeps really got it in for us. What's his beef?"

"Guys like him make a name for themselves by making good guys look back, particularly heroes," said Chloe.

"Little creep. Let's post him some spiderbots set to attack mode," said Techo evilly, Chris and Kala nodding, only for Chloe to sigh.

"As tempting as that is, we'd probably get into trouble. Oh I think Matt's almost finished," she said, looking over at Matt who yelled -and they'll be able to see the crater from space." before he panted heavily. "Urgh...we'll have to let him have that goddamn interview..." he said gloomily .

"Do we have to?" whined Kala.

"It'd make our jobs more difficult if people don't trust us," said Chloe.

"Can I at least pull some pranks on him?" asked Kala.

"Later and off-camera," said Chloe, "So we better make ourselves presentable. Matt, you'll need to shave."

"Nope, the beard stays," said Matt stubbornly before saying "Get some of the new crew we picked up on Avalar to escort him. Least Mina's out of this."

* * *

One such new crewman would have had Matt revise that last sentence as a very human looking Mina groaned to herself, trying to reach for a faulty wire so it could be replaced. "Urgh...I thought this was supposed to be all action...not being an artificer," she groaned to herself, yelping as the circuit shorted and shocked her hand . "Why couldn't I have gotten Dad's electric powers as one of my starters?" she muttered to herself.

"Hey, mecha, you finished in there?" shouted her overseer, using what her fellows had called her was a rather nasty slang for mechanic .

"Almost, I've just got to take care of this last wire," said Mina.

"Leave it. I'll have Arron take over. Word from up high, they want one of you useless maggots to help escort some idiot from planetside who's gonna give the commander an interview," snapped Overseer Akron, a rather annoyed splitter who ran the engineering in the foundry decks where equipment and gear was made.

"An escort? Like a bodyguard?" asked Mina excitedly.

"Don't get cocky, kid. When it's over you'll probably come right back here for being a screw up," said Akron smugly, Mina glaring before he returned the glare and snapped, "My eyesight must be far better than I thought."

"Why do you say that?" asked Mina.

"BECAUSE I KNOW I JUST SENT YOU TO THE COMMAND DECK YET I CAN STILL SEE YOU HERE!" roared Akron, causing Mina's hair to blow backwards .

Mina yelped before hightailing it out of here. She scrambled into the nearest turbolift and clicked her ID card in, the lift sending her up to the command deck rapidly...a little too rapidly as it turned out as she was pressed to the ground, rolling out of the lift as it stopped 10 minutes later. "Hey kid, you ok?" said a voice that caused Mina to yelp.

It didn't help that she was being addressed by the only member of the crew who was technically undead. "I'm...fine, just nervous," said Mina.

"Yeah. Lift 15's a little fucked up. Not surprised Akron didn't warn you," said Wilson cheerfully, helping her up. "Briefing rooms this way, kid. Say, do I know you?" he added .

"No, no, I'm new here, very new," said Mina.

"Yeah, I suppose, we got a huge crew," he said, leading Mina through the bridge, an unfortunate comm user apparently on the comm to some squid alien in a business suit. "Who's that?" she asked.

"That's your escort. Don't worry if he gets killed or something, you'll probably get a medal for that," joked Wilson

"Oh, I get it, this is some kind of prank you pull on the new guys, right?" asked Mina.

"No. Little creep's stinking up a serious storm against us. He wants an interview and I don't think we gotta choice. Your job'll be to make sure he doesn't eaten by spiderbots or something," said Wilson .

"The spiderbots will go easy on me, right?" asked Mina.

Wilson laughed uproariously before saying, "Oh, I remember when I was green."

The far door opened as the duo approached to show Matt and the rest of the command team sat down, Matt looking rather pale. He had also grown a beard since Mina had last seen him. Which was a bit odd because that was only a few days ago.

"Ok, now the last of our security teams here, we can begin," said Matt, clicking a view on to show the creep from the comm.

"Behold. The biggest git on earth. Will Harangue. The creep's kicking up a lynch mob, no offence boss," said Techo cheerfully, even more so because it appeared the spiderbots had gotten to the slide and drawn devil horns and a Fu Manchu moustache on the slide .

"How'd that slimeball get on TV in the first place?" asked Kala.

"Apparently he used to be human," said Chloe, "But something happened that permanently mutated him. I wouldn't be surprised if Ben was involved somehow."

"When do we give him the medal?" said Chris evilly, getting some laughs before Matt said "Ok, here's your mission, kid. Make sore this creep leaves the ship with the same number of limbs attached as when he arrives."

"He does only have four, right?" asked Mina.

"Probably, unless he's hiding a few. Just keep the easily seen ones intact. It's simple enough. Go to the armory and sign out a sidearm then go to hanger 4. Transports collecting our guests." said Matt, calmly

"And remember, you're here to guard the guy. So fight the urge to shoot him yourself," said Chloe.

* * *

Harangue and one of his cameramen sat in the back of the pelican that was flying him to the Novus Star, 2 marines giving him constant glares as they flew along

"Now remember, I don't want you to keep me off camera for more than 10 seconds," said Harangue to his cameraman, "Unless something very exciting is going on that is. Remember, this is my show and I deserve the most camera time."

"Remember the deal though. You try and rope the commander into anything and we shoot you in the head," said a marine darkly.

"Oh, I'm sure that'll do wonders for your PR," said Harangue dryly.

"Only if you get your footage home," grinned one of the marines, a furry chin and fangs visible under his helmet.

"Just how many of your crew is human anyways?" asked Harangue.

"Wow, what a well-thought question," said a marine sarcastically, "You should have been a diplomat."

"One minute to docking, strap yourselves in for landing," said the pilot over the intercom, a thud felt as the ship landed and a hatch opened to show a warehouse-sized hanger, several Pelicans being moved by crane as hundreds of men and women, some in trooper gear and others in engineer or technician gear running back and forth.

A trio of marines were standing to attention, one looking surprisingly young . "Uh, hello sir," said the younger one, "We're here to escort you to the captain."

Harangue just glared, walking down the ramp with his camera man, who had an expression of apology on his face, followed. "You're a little young, aren't you?" Harangue demanded.

"Well, yeah, but I have a lot of potential," said the girl.

"So these ruthless mercenaries are willing to snatch an innocent child away so they can add more to their ranks," said Harangue.

"What? I didn't say that," protested the girl.

Harangue immediately turned to the camera and said, "You saw it here first."

"Ouch!" yelped the cameraman as he felt something sting his leg. He looked down to see a small spider-shaped robot that waved at him before scuttling away. "Erm...I think they want that part edited out," said the cameraman nervously, his eyes adjusting to realize that there was quite alot of spiderbot-shaped shadows hiding all around them and _all_ looking at the duo

"They can't interfere with the freedom of the press," said Harangue.

He was about to walk in further when a lead weight reading '4 Tons' dropped right in front of him. Harangue gulped and pulled a note off that had a picture showing what was Earth marked with 'Earth laws and press freedoms' in a circle and outside a ship silhouette with an arrow saying 'you are here, idiot'. The message was more or less clear.

"We'll work on the editing later," said Harangue.

He turned the note to see, with puzzlement that an addition said "Nice to see you agree, squid boy.' which caused him to glare.

The girl was grinning rather smugly. "This way please," she said

"So, how do you make a ship this huge anyways?" asked the cameraman.

"Hey, I'm the journalist, I ask the questions," snapped Harangue before turning to his escort and asking, "So, how do you make a ship this huge anyways?"

"Designed and built off blueprints recovered from wreckage. This ship's primarily a long range ship, designed to operate away from spacedocks for up to 15 years if needed. It is partially military so stay with us please. We cannot be responsible for injuries if you choose to go exploring," said a marine as they got in a lift and it shot off, shooting out over what looked like a factory line.

"The ship's got its own foundry for producing our own equipment, with materials picked up via an armored ram scoop," said the third marine before it shot through a tunnel and opened out into what looked like a section of the Canadian forests.

"We also have our own biome. Big enough that it's basically a mini planet there: free air, food, water and recreation during long trips," said the young girl cheerfully, a reptilian hawk creature flying up to keep pace with the lift pod, its stern look focused on Harangue and the cameraman before it screeched and peeled away.

"I noticed you have not answered my question," said Harangue, "A ship this size cannot be launched off a planet, so how could it have been made?"

"Built in orbit. It is capable of landing thanks to anti-grav thrusters but it's not recommended," said the first marine adding for emphasis, "Just to make it clear, this ship's primarily long range research, not a warship. It's just that our frontiers have some...nasty inhabitants that shoot first and ask questions never." before the lift shot through another tunnel to show several large launch tubes and launch bays, filled with what were clearly other capital ships. "Escort ships," said the first marine sternly

"This place is big enough to build a city in," said the cameraman, earning him a sharp look from Harangue.

"Funny you should mention that," said the girl as they passed through another tunnel. The lift went through another section to show what looked like a warehouse, filled with several unbuilt decks and a half dozen humanoid robots working at building. "We're removing some sections the commander found distasteful, like a black hole cannon we found," said the girl .

"Hey! Watch where you're movin' that thing!" snapped the shortest of the robots.

"Sorry, boss," said the largest one who was holding a very long girder.

"Now entering: Command quarters," said an automated voice, as the lift stopped and began to go up rapidly.

The first marine said "The commander doesn't trust you enough to let you film command. You'll be interviewing him in his quarters."

"I'm sure he's got nothing to hide in there," said the girl, though she sounded a little nervous.

Harangue opened his mouth to object before the marine said "If that's not good enough, we can turn around and take you back to the hanger."

"And remember, you're supposed to ask about his business, not his personal life," said the second marine.

The lift finally stopped, opening up into a generic grey metal corridor, several doors on either side and crewmen pausing to watch as the group were led out and down the hall to a door with a half covered name on the door, the word 'admiral' visible. "After you, calamari man," said one of the marines, opening the door .

The captain was sitting in his chair, trying to appear professional. He was more savage-looking than Harangue expect, with wild hair and an unkempt beard. "Have a seat," said Captain Lynch courteously.

Harangue looked suspicious before sitting down opposite, his cameraman trying several positions before deciding on a side shot. "We are live in 3...2..." he said miming the last one before nodding .

"This is Will Harangue and I am currently aboard the Novus Start and talking with its captain, Matthew Lynch. Captain Lynch, I think what all our viewers would like to know is why are currently in Earth's orbit instead of in the lawless void of deep space?"

"First off, it's Novus Star, not Start. As for your question, Mr. Harangue, we're on the trail of a criminal in control of a highly dangerous piece of technology, the sort of tech better off in pieces instead of in working order. The Plumbers are allowing us to check their sensor net data so we can work out where he went from here," said Matt professionally .

"And if your ship is so advanced, could you have not figured it out by yourself by now?" questioned Harangue.

"Our ship took some damage when we were on the cusp of recovering the tech ourselves. Incurseans I believe they were called. Our sensors were also damaged," said Matt in a smooth lie. In reality the revenite ship was close to impossible to track.

"Incurseans, yes, interesting," mumbled Harangue before saying, "So, my sources lead me to believe me that you are not from this time period, but are in fact from the past."

"That's classified, I'm afraid," said Matt smoothly .

"Yes, I suppose that thieves and spies wouldn't want others to know what they're up to," said Harangue.

"Really? Is that the best you have? Let's have a look at your files. Aria took the liberty. Aria, bring up Harangue's actions during the Incursean invasion. Would you agree that collaborator covers it?" said Matt with an evil grin, his teeth looking rather carnivorous .

"As I have repeatedly stated, I was acting as an uncover agent to infiltrate the Incurseans and bring them down from within," said Harangue, "The return of Ben Tennyson ruined that plan before I could carry it all the way out."

"Yeah, you were doing a real good job. Then there's this file where you worked with a known anti-alien terror group, the Forever Knights. Almost helped them commit planetwide genocide. Your comeuppance was your current look," said Matt evilly

"There is no footage to support your claim," said Harangue, "Besides, aren't you and your crew from the war-torn time where everyone was trying to find any edge they could find to win? That does not seem like a time of altruism."

"Really? Last time I checked we were almost out of business. Never been so bored in my life," laughed Matt, before saying "Any other accusations disguised as questions? "

"Yes, do you have fleas?" asked Harangue.

"Excuse me?" said Matt.

"Perhaps you haven't noticed, but you've been scratching yourself during most of the interview," said Harangue.

"I've got an itch. It's really hot in here. Hold on," said Matt, scratching the back of his ear before pressing a button on his desk. "Techo, double check environment settings on command quarters sector 2. It's boiling in my quarters and I got an interview with this moron," he said, snapping .

"Just a sec," said Techo. Matt kept on scratching before Techo called back, "It's just 65 degrees Fahrenheit in there."

"It feel more like tropical," snapped Matt before pausing and starting to shake.

"Er...boss?" began the cameraman, looking at Matt, concerned.

"Oh, he's just trying ham it up so people will think he's harmless," said Harangue, "Buddy, I'm on a schedule here so can we get back to the important stuff?"

"Warning...medical emergency detected in command quarters, sector 2. Commander's lifesigns fluctuating...medical team respond," said a computerized voice over the intercom at that, a klaxon sounding .

"Uh, boss, I don't think he's faking," said the cameraman.

Harangue opened his mouth to reply before two white armored crew ran in, pushing Harangue and the cameraman aside roughly. "You idiots, why didn't you call someone?" one of them scolded while the other checked vitals and shouted "Turn that smegging camera off and get them outta here."

"Sir, I think you'll have to wait for the Captain to recover before continuing," said the girl escort, "Can I show you to the coffee lounge?"

"Fine," sulked Harangue.

* * *

"Boss. It's not your fault. They'll probably continue the interview with one of his command team," said the cameraman, the trio, consisting of the cameraman, Harangue and their girl escort, sitting in an almost empty cafeteria, the only other occupants some weird tiny aliens on the far corner apparently playing poker for slices of coconut cake.

"I'm telling you, they're hiding something," said Harangue, "There's on this ship they don't want the public to know. And when I find it, it'll push my ratings through the roof."

"Of course not. This is part military ship," said the girl escort with a sigh before wincing as a fight apparently broke out as one of the aliens, wearing a fedora was apparently caught with almost an entire deck of extra cards

"What kind of aliens are those anyways?" asked Harangue.

"Uh...not sure," said the escort, "There are different kinds of aliens all over the universe."

"Warning: Bio alert. Code black. All combat teams report to your nearest armory. A hostile lifeform has been detected in command quarters sector 2. Non-lethal munitions only," said a stern voice, the lights going out for a second before switching to a red lighting before their escorts radio buzzed.

"Kid, this is Wilson. Get that moron back to the hanger. We got serious smeg going down in your area."

"Uh, Mr. Harangue, if you'll just follow me, we'll get you back to your shuttle," said the girl.

"Not a chance. The people have a right to know what's happening," said Harangue loftily before there was a crash at the far door, a half dozen fully armored marines running in.

"Greggs, Jenkins, set up over on the left with me. You three, right side. It's headed this..."

Just then, someone who to Harangue looked like they were wearing a wolf man costume barged in, snarling and growling. The act got a bit more convincing when he saw Harangue's group and snarled.

"OPEN FIRE!" yelled the squad leader, his men opening up with lightning rifles, the creature yelping angrily as repeated shots hit it .

The wolf man grabbed the fedora-wearing alien and held him up for a shield. "Ugh, this again?" said the alien, rather unconcerned that he was being shot.

"Get that VIP outta here!" yelled a marine at the escort, who grabbed Harangue with far too much strength for a girl her size.

"You heard him." she snapped

"But this is prime footage," protested Harangue.

"I think we have enough," yelped the cameraman as the wolf man yelled what looked like a sonic blast as several of the marines, sending them flying like ragdolls.

"He's right," snapped their escort, pulling the two into the corridor and pushing them for an elevator. The wolf man roared before charging at them. Fortunately, the elevator doors closed in time, but there was the sound of tearing metal on the other side.

"Please state floor." said the elevator calmly as the door began to dent.

"Shuttle bay!" shouted the girl.

"I'm sorry. Please restate in a calm tone," said the voice in a friendly tone as rips began to appear in the door, the wolf man snarling. "Give me that fool."

"Shuttle bay, shuttle bay, shuttle bay," said the girl with increasing nervousness.

"Confirmed," said the elevator AI before the lift began to move.

* * *

Matt howled in frustration as he lost his prey. But he didn't have time to waste with the marines surrounding him. He needed to escape. He looked around desperately before finally looking up to see a sign for escape shuttles, his lips peeling back in a smirk before he literally ran at the marines, vaulting over them.

He was almost at the escape shuttles when a piercing high sound stabbed him through the ears. He howled in pain and clutched at his head as the sound rattled his brain. He snarled and looked around to try and find the source of the noise, growling before howling again as the noise was heard .

"This is for your own good, Lynch," said NegaMorph as he kept the sonic pitch whistle going, having donned a sound-insulating pair of earmuffs beforehand. Matt growled before his muzzle split open and a sonic blast shot out and blasted NegaMorph into a wall . "Ow, shoulda seen that coming," said NegaMorph.

Matt just chuckled before activating a hatch and hopped in, the hatch opening before it flew down the access port. "Don't let him get away!" shouted Wilson.

"Too late. His pod's gone," said Techo over the comm, Wilson glaring as the pod flew away

"Well, he can't go far," said Wilson.

"Sure, he's only got a whole planet to hide on," said NegaMorph sarcastically as he peeled himself off the wall.

"Or I could just trace the pod...heading down...quadrant 5...sector 3...half a mile outside Bellwood," said Aria calmly .

"Bellwood, what a surprise," said Techo, "Think he has a plan or is he just a wild wolf?"

"Wild Loboan," corrected NegaMorph, "That mirror's probably given him a dose of slow-acting nanites to gradually convert him."

"How would you know?" asked Wilson.

"Because I spent hours stuck in that thing after Lynch kicked me in there," said NegaMorph.

"Wait, if it's infected his nanites...oh smeg, he's about to be patient zero. Contact the Plumbers and SECT. Tell them we're deploying a squad to Bellwood and to get a damn curfew going," said Chris with a horrified expression .

"Uh, he's not _that_ kind of werewolf," said Wilson.

"With nanites that have no control module to tell em to stop?" said Chris sternly, letting it sink in .

"He doesn't need a genuine lycanthropy curse to spread his hair problem around," said NegaMorph, "Saliva glands filled with self-replicating nanites will do the trick just as well."

"I know, that's what I meant. We gotta get a team down there...and don't tell Kala. Also, where the hell is Harangue?" said Chris, the far lift opening and the aforementioned reporter coming out with an annoyed-looking cameraman and a apologetic...  
"Mina?" said Chris, recognizing the face immediately.

"Uh, I'm afraid you're mistaken," said the girl in an unconvincingly deeper voice, "My name's, uh, Stephanie."

"Yeah right. Mina, take the damn helmet off and once we find..." he said, pausing as he focused on Harangue before saying "The alien, we are having words."

"And what was that alien beast?" demanded Harangue, "What kind of monster were you transporting?"

"We weren't transporting him. This ship's 2 miles long. Plenty of places to hide for an alien that's only the size of you and me," snapped Techo .

"And I suppose there are enough gaps in your security for a hitchhiker to slip aboard," said Harangue dryly.

"With the commander in...indisposed I'm in command now. Get the hell of my ship...and hand over your footage. You get it on the commanders say so," said Chris angrily, the cameraman gulping and handing it over immediately .

"This isn't over," said Harangue, "The people deserve to know the truth."

"Which makes one wonder what you're doing here then," said Chris.

Harangue glared before Chris said, "Mina, do the party trick and toss this trash in a Pelican. Not the cameraman though, he suffers enough working for this jerk."

Mina grinned before shifting into her half dragon form. She grabbed Harangue and said with a devilish smile, "Come with me, sir." Harangue just stared before screaming, as anyone would when someone had just gained half a foot in height and the natural weaponry to tear a battle tank in half.

"Try not to traumatize him too badly," called Chris.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ben was enjoying one of his rarer days off. Normally, he'd use this opportunity to watch a Sumo Slammers marathon or play non-stop Sumo Slammers game. But this time, he was using it to spend some time with his girl.

"So it turned out the Dragon Emperor had been using alien tech to first unite China. But then he tried using it to prolong his life, but fortunately there were more responsible Galvan to keep him from going too far. Sometimes I think the Galvan have been shaping all of Earth's history," said Kai.

"Yeah," said Ben, thinking back to George's story about the sword, back up by Azmuth.

"Hey, a shooting star," said Kai, suddenly, a small fireball flying down .

"Hmm...that typically means an incoming alien threat for me," said Ben.

The shooting star immediately vanished into the old warehouse district, a deafening boom heard before the Omnitrix's comm began to buzz before an automated message said "General distress...lifeboat 212 has landed in your area. Respond at once...message repeats."

"Sorry, Kai, looks like work's calling on my day off, again," said Ben.

"Is this something I gotta get used to you doing?" asked Kai.

"Afraid so," said Ben.

"Then I suppose I better get used to coming along with you," said Kai. Ben was surprised at that, though Kai just grinned. "C'mon, how can you not expect Ben 10's girlfriend to not want to fight with him?" asked Kai.

"Uh, is that a trick question?" asked Ben.

"Well, let's go then," said Kai cheerfully, heading for Ben's car.

* * *

The place where the 'fallen star' had landed wasn't hard to find. There were a few fire trucks heading that way, but Ben's car got their first. "Keep on your feet," said Ben, "Whatever we're dealing with could be more dangerous than normal."

"And what would be rated as 'normal danger'?" asked Kai.

Ben pondered for a second before saying, "Let me get back to you on that."

The pod seemed to have decelerated before the crash, though it had still caused damage. In fact, most of the damage seemed to be that something had burst out of it. It was hard to determine what that something was, but it apparently had sharp claws.

"Ben, this looks like Blitzwolfer's work," Kai said carefully, pulling a familiar-looking claw out of one of the metal tears, along with some ebony black fur.

"First off, they're not called Blitzwolfers, they're called-" started Ben.

"Loboans of Luna Lobo, one of the moons of Anur Transyl in the Anur System," said Kai. Ben raised an eyebrow at that. "I read up on them," explained Kai.

"How much?" asked Ben before saying, "Never mind, secondly, this isn't necessarily Loboan work. It could have been a Vulpimancer or even an Appoplexian."

Kai peered in further to see a side cabinet marked 'emergency armament'. Its door was broken open and several items had been removed. "Ben?" she called before a red blast shot down from the roof above and hit Ben's car.

"Not my ride!" said Ben with horror before pausing and asking, "Did I sound just like Kevin just then?"

"No prey escapes this time," growled a voice from above before more laser bolts lanced down .

Ben and Kai scattered and took cover. Ben turned on his Omnitrix and said, "Listen, if you turn me into Blitzwolfer now, I'm taking you to Azmuth's to be fixed." When he pushed down the dial, the Omnitrix appeared to cooperate for once and turned him into Diamondhead.

"Hmm, you've actually made it work for you for once," said Skurd.

"Probably would get better aliens if you were gunking up the watch," said Diamondhead.

"Bad choice," sneered the voice before a Loboan landed in a crouch and sent a sonic scream out .

Diamondhead winced as his crystal body cracked all over. "Ow, should have known the watch would find some way to mess with me," groaned Diamondhead.

"Might I suggest a change in form before you're shattered?" said Skurd.

The Loboan raised his rifle, flicking a switch to cause the muzzle to turn into a sonic emitter before it winced as Kai hit it in the back, before it span and got into a combat crouch, dodging and weaving to avoid her blows.

"Kai, be careful," said Diamondhead as he reached for the Omnitrix but his arm broke off.

"I can handle myself," said Kai as she blocked the Loboan's claw with a piece of wood. The Loboan's face though was practically neutral, full of concentration as it followed the blows to dodge, weave and block before finally grabbing the piece of wood and throwing it aside .

"Hang on, Kai, I'm coming," said Diamondhead before regrowing his arm and slapping the Omnitrix. In a flash, he was now Cannonbolt. "Ok, much better," he said before curling into an armored ball and rolling at the Loboan.

The Loboan turned his head slightly before jumping up to avoid the blow, landing neatly behind Kai. Kai swung around to punch the Loboan, but he caught her fist in his mouth. The Loboan seemed just as surprised by this, a confused expression before Kai pulled her hand back, yelping as the Loboan's teeth drew blood unintentionally. This went out the window as her opponent pushed her at Cannonbolt.

Fortunately, Cannonbolt was able to stop and uncurl so Kai hit his softer underbelly. "You ok?" asked Cannonbolt.

"He bit me a bit," said Kai.

"Well, unless he scratched your watch, I think you'll be ok," said Cannonbolt jokingly.

The Loboan however snarled before pausing, tilting its head before starting to laugh.

"Uh, I'm pretty that watch-scratching thing isn't common knowledge," said Cannonbolt.

"Oh, you might wanna let go of-" began the Loboan before a dart hit it in the neck . The Loboan blinked before falling over and started snoring.

A dozen or so marines ran into view, Chris holding a rifle. "Nice, least nothing happened. Don't worry, boss. You'll be on your feet in no time," Chris said cheerfully before seeing Ben and Kai, "Oh, hey Ben. Sorry for messing up your date."

"Ben, who are these guys?" asked Kai.

"They're old friends of mine, and the term 'old' is used a bit oddly here," said Cannonbolt.

"Yes, they're apparently from 6 years in the past," said Skurd. Kai raised an eyebrow at that.

Cannonbolt turned back into Ben and he said, "Don't worry, this has nothing to do with Paradox or Maltruant. I think."

"I think we know what the mirror did. He had a Loboan reflection. There musta been enough heat from the crash to set the damn thing off," said a marine .

"What mirror?" asked Kai.

"Classified," said the entire marine team in unison.

"Wait a sec, are you saying that's Matt?" asked Ben, pointing at the Loboan.

"Yup, fur and all. Chris thinks his bites be infectious too but nothing's happened so I guess that's a bust," said another marine, taking his helmet off to reveal Techo.

"Wait, bite?" asked Kai nervously.

"Yeah, nanites in the mouth." said Techo, checking Kai. "I can't see anything," he said conversationally.

Kai looked at her hand to see that her skin was unmarred. "I'm pretty sure there was blood," said Kai in a worried tone.

"Was probably the heat of the moment," said Techo with a shrug .

"You can change Matt back to normal, right?" asked Ben.

"Not a clue," said Techo cheerfully .

"But you guys work with nanotech all the time," said Ben.

"Uh, does every lightbulb have the same type? Can any engine part work in any car? There are different kinds of nanotech, most are incompatible," said Techo, "If we want to find out how to fix this, we'll need that mirror back."

"We could always wring NegaMorph to see if he got any leftover in him," said Chris.

"We tried that. That's why Wilson's in sickbay," said another marine.

Chris shrugged and said, "Well, it was fun anyways."

Matt's eyes shot open at that, every marine aiming at him before he said in a slurred voice, "If someone doesn't explain why I'm in an alley and why my entire body feels weird, pain will ensue."

"Oh good, his mind's back to normal," said Chris cheerfully.

"Ok, what's the best way to tell him?" muttered Techo to himself before telling Matt, "Don't look in a mirror."

Matt groaned, "What happened? You only say that when my human race membership card's been suspended."

"Let me show you," said Skurd before producing a reflective Diamondhead shield.

Matt stared before saying, "You know...actually not that bad...I've had worse."

"That's a relief," said Techo.

"I will have to fight Chris later for dominance," said Matt.

"Oh sure, no pro- Wait, what?" asked Chris.

Matt grinned at that. "Oh, and you have to work out if I'm joking or not," he sniggered .

"Are they usually like this?" asked Kai.

"Well, normally, Matt's a dragon and dragons apparently don't care if werewolves share their territories," said Ben.

"I lost my dragon membership," said Matt, dizzily.

"Oh, you're from that time," said Ben before muttering to himself, "That's gonna make a few things awkward."

"Wait, pardon?" said Matt, growling .

"Uh, nothing," said Ben, "Can't say much, time paradoxes and stuff."

"Indeed, no spoilers. Except the spoiler if there's a cure or not," snapped Matt .

"For the Loboan thing or the dragon thing?" asked Ben.

"Loboan, I do not want fleas," snapped Matt, grabbing Nen and easily lifting him to eye level .

"Well, I'm pretty sure there's a cure, but I have no idea what that is," said Ben.

"Oh lovely, my future self's an idiot who didn't take notes," snapped Matt, dropping Ben .

"Relax, we got a fully-stocked med lab back on the ship," said Chris.

"And we have a pair of Galvans who might be able to figure it out," said Ben.

"Your Galvans, the alien equivalents of Dumb and Dumber?" asked Matt in an 'are-you-kidding' tone. Ben paused at that before nodding in admission "Let's just get to the med lab," grumbled Matt.

Ben sighed before looking at his car. "What about that? You shot my car," he said.

Techo rolled his eyes, "That? 30 minute repair job with my kit."

"I'll believe that when I see it," said Ben.

Techo nodded, taking out a briefcase and opening it up to show a canister full of silver liquid. "One dose of repair nanites, coming up," he said cheerfully .

Ben looked at the canister with an air of dubiousness and asked, "That's not gonna cause my car to come to life and run amuck, will it?"

"No. It doesn't do that anymore," said Techo cheerfully, spraying the nanites on the car . Immediately, the nanites went to work, uncrumpling metal and soldiering broken pieces back together.

"Ok, but can it wax it too?" asked Ben.

"Of course not. That'd be stupid," said Techo with a scolding look, Kai chuckling a little. Ben's car was soon in its proper shape, but it was in good need of a car wash. "Well, shall we head on over to the doctor's?" said Techo.

"Don't you mean the vet's?" whispered Chris making both chuckle until Matt said, "I heard that."

* * *

Matt glared as, in his head, two little Galvan morsels poked him. "Well...do we have a diagnosis or do I go mad?" he asked.

"Hmm...yep, just what I thought," said Blukic before pulling something out of Matt's fur. "Just normal fleas, not Hulex," he said before popping it into his mouth. However, the flea was a lot stronger than it looked as it knocked his head from side to side before popping out.

"Just what I thought, they weren't normal fleas," said Driba, "They seem to have been previously exposed to magi energy, probably feeding off of a magical creature of some kind."

"Oh come on, I got fleas from Weirdwolf?!" snapped Matt.

"Who's Weirdwolf?" asked Driba before Matt snapped "ENOUGH! Did you find out anything _useful_?"

"Well, your transformation is definitely caused by nanites," said Driba.

"No shit, Sherlock. Any way to cure it?" snarled Mat t.

"Not without seeing the nanite source," said Blukic.

"But we can treat it," said Driba.

"No we can't," said Blukic.

"Yes we can," said Driba.

"TREAT IT!" yelled Matt, a sonic howl demolishing a wall.

"Well, we can't make promises," said Blukic.

"But we can at least tell you how to avoid the worst of it," said Driba, "These nanites were designed for terraforming both terrain and organisms."

"Uh huh, knew that," said Matt dully.

"And it causes organisms to behave in a way to continue the terraforming with other organisms," said Driba.

"But this programming only activates when exposed to UV radiation within a certain parameter," said Blukic, "Not too much, not too little."

"Moonlight?" said Matt, years of his life allowing him to predict what was about to be said .

"That ought to be right," said Blukic.

"Lemme guess, only a full moon has the correct energy output or some other crap," said Matt just as annoyed .

"Should also occur within a waxing moon," said Driba.

"No it won't," said Blukic.

"Yes it would," said Driba.

"No it won't."  
Matt yelled, "GIMMIE THE DAMN MENTAL BLOCKER NOW!"

"Mental blocker?" asked Driba, "We don't know how to block the mental effects."

"But we can help with the physical ones," said Blukic before pointing what looked like a laser turret at Matt, "Now hold still."

"Oh hell no!" yelped Matt, jumping off the table .

Apparently, this wasn't the first time Blukic had to deal with a twitchy patient and kept firing at Matt. "Now, don't get excited, that makes it worse," said Blukic.

Matt yelped, dodging each shot. "I can live with fur! NO LASERS!" he yelled .

Just then, a blast hit him and he fell over. "That should do it," said Blukic.

"Well, mostly," said Driba. Matt slowly picked himself up and looked in the mirror. He looked more like himself now, but it looked like he was wearing a very realistic costume of Lawrence Talbot.

"Hmm...this might be only temporary," said Blukic.

"I LOOK LIKE A CASTLEVANIA ESCAPEE!" roared Matt, flickering before shifting back to Loboan.

"Aggression makes it even more temporary," said Driba.

"We'll have to do a higher voltage," said Blukic before turning up the laser.

Matt yelped and was forced to dodge the next shot before sonic screaming the laser . "Look, can't you two do _anything_ helpful?" snapped Matt.

"Well, I suppose we can suppress the nanites in your saliva glands," said Driba.

"Should keep you from spreading it so long as you don't exchange bodily fluids with anyone," said Blukic.

Matt's face seemed to freeze at that before he snapped, "Fine, do it, no lasers though."

"Oh, I think we can make a pill for that," said Driba.

"And it'll be chewable and beef-flavored," said Blukic.

"Why would you..." began Matt in a faint voice.

* * *

When Kala heard the news, she had mixed feelings. On one hand, it'll be fun to have her boyfriend be a cute fluffy doggy for a while. On the other hand, she was going to be rather frustrated by the lack of contact she'll be able to have with him.

In context, the gang agreed she took it rather well...

* * *

"C'mon Kala, setting fire to your room won't help," called Chris round the corner of the door .

"Especially since everything's already been fireproofed," said Megan.

Chloe, sitting in the corner looked, rather complacent to anyone passing. However, if a psychic had passed they would have heard an unusual internal monologue.

_'Ok, on the bright side, Matt's bound to face more humiliation as a wolf than a dragon. He'll probably match with Chloe if they eventually meet. And he's an open target for me to do with as I wish. Then again, the other villains are bound to hear about it and will want to take advantage. Not like they wouldn't have before when he was stripped of his dragon powers, but I can think of at least one person who'll use Matt's Loboan side against him. Not to mention there's bound to be a dogfight at some point.' _

She paused as she heard someone saying something. "Hello...earth to Chloe," said Chris, tapping the top of her head .

Chloe blinked and said, "Sorry, were you saying something?"

"I said, we got word back. Those Galvan failed big time. Matt's still fuzzy," said Chris .

"Oh like we weren't expecting that," said Chloe dryly.

"Point to you there but we still gotta deal with the problem," said Megan with a sigh, predicting the mayhem when Weirdwolf and Matt would see each other .

"Yep, I hear Loboans can be pretty territorial," said Draco, "But this isn't the first time Matt's been turned into a werewolf."

"He's not a werewolf and he wasn't a werewolf last time," said Chris.

"Doesn't matter. He'll probably see you as a threat," said Chloe calmly .

"I'm kinda looking forward to the challenge," said Chris, "I've always wanted to show him I'm the tougher one and he doesn't have his dragon advantage this time."

"No, he can just liquefy your brain with a sonic howl," said Techo cheerfully .

"From what I've read, Loboans don't use that during dominance matches," said Megan.

"Matt's not gonna be running on instincts 24/7," said Techo.

"Good point. You're screwed, Chris," said Chloe cheerfully .

"I'm touched by your support," said Chris.

"Hey, you're gonna be stuck in the infirmary while we're going to be giving Matt his B-A-T-H. I don't see what you're complaining about," said Draco.

Chris raised an eyebrow. "You don't have to spell it. I can handle someone saying...that word," he said, finishing lamely

"Yeah, but for all I know, Matt's razor-sharp hearing could pick that up," said Draco.

"He's not back from the station yet. Even his hearing can't hear bath," said Chloe, Chris flinching .

"He probably has spies then," said Draco.

"You mean the 'spies' we paid to help get him into the tub when he tries to protest?" asked Techo. A spiderbot scuttled by holding a dollar and giggling.

"Oh yeah," said Draco before stopping, "Wait a sec, we got a Loboan expert on board already."

"Hmm...I'm not sure he would be willing to sell out his own kind," said Chris dubiously.

* * *

"Oh, sure, you just muzzle him and the rest should be easy," said Scout, "I had to help out when my uncle didn't take a bath in a week."

"This was surprisingly easy. I feel robbed somehow," said Techo glumly .

"Well, maybe Matt will be more of a challenge to catch," said Chloe comfortingly, "I mean, it's no easy task to pin Weirdwolf down."

Scout sighed, "The trick will be getting close enough to muzzle him. We don't like that for obvious reasons."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure we have a gadget for that somewhere," said Chloe.

"Yeah, you mean the tesla pistol? Matt's got it," said Chris, before saying, "It was his turn to catch Weirdwolf for...b-a-t-h night."

"Somebody call for me?" asked Matt as he walked into the room.

Everyone seemed to pause at that, before Scout said calmly "They were just consulting with me. You may want to as well unless you want to end up like my feral brethren on Luna lobo."

"Good point," said Matt, "Do most of your kind go feral?"

"It mostly has to do with genetics and upbringing," said Scout, "Loboans who live among other races tend to be closer to your terms of 'civil'. But certain stimulations can make us go feral."

"Like what?" said Matt, before a spiderbot squirted water on his face. Matt gave a canine yelp as he jumped back before growling at the spiderbot.

"Case in point. From what I understand, you'd never think of threatening these...things," said Scout calmly, the spiderbot returning Matt's glare.

"Daydream about it, maybe, but I wouldn't go through with it," said Matt as he wiped the water off his face.

"Then why did you snarl?" said Scout smugly, in the air of someone with an airtight argument.

Matt sighed and said, "Is there anything I won't be able to control myself around? Will I have an unstoppable urge to feed on pork when I see it?"

"Don't be silly. That's just galactic stereotyping," scolded Scout .

"Though you might feel an instinctual aversion to some things," said Chloe.

"Like what?" said Matt, Draco saying "Like baths-ohblitznak."

* * *

Meanwhile, Ben and Kai had gone to a rock-climbing place. Not surprisingly, Kai was pretty good at it. "Remember, Ben, if you change, you forfeit," said Kai.

Ben just panted, pulling himself up another ledge to catch up. "How are you...not even tired?" he asked .

"Maybe it's because I don't change into an alien to do all my work," said Kai, "Or perhaps it's because I have a healthier diet than chili fries and smoothies."

"What's wrong with smoothies?" joked Ben, before saying, "It's not that. We've been climbing for half an hour but you aren't even phased."

"Really?" asked Kai before checking her watch, "Huh, time really flies when you're having fun."

Ben nodded, finally managing to pull himself up to equal level with Kai and noticing something. "Erm...Kai? Your eyes," he said carefully .

"Let me guess, you're gonna say beautiful they are so you can steal another kiss from me," said Kai, "They're not gonna come that easily."

"No...they're yellow," said Ben carefully .

"Riiight...nice try, Tennyson," said Kai.

"I'm serious, Kai," said Ben, in a stern voice, looking around before spotting a puddle and pulling Kai over. Kai took one look into it and gasped. Her eyes had turned yellow, but that wasn't all. Her eyebrows had grown very bushy and were now meeting across her forehead, not to mention her ears were pointed now. Her gasp allowed her to see that her canines were longer than normal too.

"I think that cut counted as a bite," said Ben carefully .

Kai quickly took off her glove to look at her hand. Her fingernails had turned black and looked sharper and there was hair sprouting off the back of her hand. Taking off her other glove revealed that it was the same way. "Ben..." Kai said, a little nervously before wincing, the nanites in her blood deciding that her brain needed a tune-up too.

"Kai, calm down, don't panic," said Ben, "We're going to get you help." Kai, however, was gripping her head as it morphed before pausing and opening her eyes and growling . "Uh, Kai, it's me, Ben, your lovable boyfriend and future husband," said Ben nervously.

Kai's response was to howl angrily and lunge at Ben. Ben jumped back before activating the Omnitrix and turning into Snare-Oh. "Excellent choice," said Skurd, "Now she can take out all her frustration at you and you'll survive."

Kai glared before jumping over snare-oh and hopping down the mountain. "Oh boy, I better get after her before she hurts somebody," said Snare-Oh before jumping and stretching his body like a parachute.

* * *

"I gotta eat this? It looks like it's already been eaten once," groaned Matt, looking at a blue jerky style meat, he, scout, Kala and Chloe in Undertown.

"You need to keep a square diet," said Scout.

"It looks disgusting...and smells worse. This the Loboan equivalent of cabbage?" groaned Matt .

"Cabbage?" asked Scout with confusion.

"As in tastes awful but I gotta eat I anyway," groaned Matt .

"Well, I suppose it is," said Scout.

"Urgh," groaned Matt at that .

"Hey, you want to keep your larynx strong and healthy, right?" said Kala.

"Quiet, you..." snapped Matt, before picking up a piece, wincing and reluctantly swallowing it, "Ugh, that was as bad as an MRE."

"You get used to it," said Scout calmly before several screams were heard down the road, along with a crashing noise. Scout and Matt's ears immediately perked up before they looked in the direction.

"Guys, we might be doing more than shopping here today," said Matt. The group quickly ran towards the fighting in time for half a Techadon robot to fly past them. "Well...that's never good," said Matt weakly.

A figure leaped on top of a nearby rooftop and roared. At one glance, it was pretty easy to tell it was a female Loboan with black and brown fur and yellow eyes. However, there was something about her ponytail and stretched clothing that was vaguely familiar.

Matt's own nanites were providing their own scan, though they were a mix of orders, some saying it was a friendly and another saying it was a timeline specific. "Erm, guys?" he said carefully before the new Loboan noticed them properly and snarled angrily, saying in a female growl "Intruders."

"Stay back, she's more than half feral," said Scout.

"More than that, I think she's-" began Matt before more of Argit's robots turned up, in a 'shoot first' mood . The she-wolf alien growled before unleashing a sonic howl upon the Techadons. Two of the bots were immediately crumpled, the others adapting and firing rapidly as the she-wolf performed, to Matt, a textbook splitter tai-kao flip...NSC flash training. "Hey, that's my move!" he snapped .

"Uh, Matt, I don't think now's the best time to argue about such things," said Kala. The broken Techadons were rebuilding themselves and the Loboan would be overwhelmed soon.

Matt nodded, before picking up a piece of rubble and throwing it at the she-Loboan, who grabbed it out of mid-air and turned to snarl. "Yooou...you bit me," she growled .

"So? I bite a lot of people," said Matt, thinking of the dozens of time he's chomped somebody as a dragon, namely Morph or NegaMorph.

Kala glared at that. "You said you didn't bite anyone when you went nuts," she snapped before a sonic howl sent her flying .

"When I went nuts when?" asked Matt before Chloe grabbed Matt by his shirt front and shook him.

"You idiot, did you bite anyone since you've gone wolf?" snapped Chloe.

"I dunno. I did ambush Kai and Ben, but I don't think I bit em," said Matt a little desperately ,

"Does that look like the result of someone not bitten?" snapped Chloe, twisting Matt's head to look at the Loboan.

"I admit, she looks familiar," said Matt weakly, before the Loboan lost interest, lunging at Chloe and biting her before running away.

"If I've been infected, I blame you for this," said Chloe before punching Matt in the nose.

Matt gave a canine yelp of pain and said, "Hey, that's a lot more sensitive now."

"Good," said Chloe before flicking his nose again, just as Ben's car pulled up and Ben and Rook piled out.

"Which way did she go?" asked Ben desperately.

"That way...erm...oh dear," said Matt, starting to put the pieces together, "Please make my day...say that wasn't your girlfriend running away."

"That was my girlfriend and you infected her!" snapped Ben.

"Oh dear, you've made him rather miffed," said Skurd, "I suggest you get far away before he proceeds with the pummeling."

"Not on purpose. The last thing I remember before coming too in front of you was giving that Harangue moron an interview to get him to shut up," snarled Matt .

"Geeze, you had to deal with Harangue? No wonder you snapped," said Ben.

"That and I gained a foot in height and fur...and the split lip from hell," said Matt scathingly .

"Uh huh, fascinating," said Ben dully, "But more importantly, why has Kai gone loco lobo when you're fine?"

"From what everyone tells me, I put 16 marines in the med bay and attempted to blow yours and Kai's head off with a PX-4 laser rifle," said Matt icily .

"This is not a good time to be arguing," said Rook, "Kai is still on the loose and could infect more people if she is not stopped."

"He's right. Unless you want another disaster named after you, Matt," said Kala, before regretting it.

Matt gave a very lupine snarl before Chloe said, "Oh stop acting like everyone's against you. We've got bigger things to worry about than your ego."

Matt glared at that before saying, "Let's find her before some idiot does."

"Oh who would be stupid enough to get in our way?" asked Kala.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, Kai was very fast and nimble as a Loboan. Even XLR8 was having a hard time keeping up with her. Matt had, in a sign of sense, called in some of his men to guard the exits out of Undertown, meaning at least for now, Kai was confined to the town. However Matt learnt that stunning a Loboan was alot harder then it seemed, as his tesla rifle missed again, causing an explosion of water from the town's river.  
"Dammit...shooting with 3 fingers is harder than it looks," he snapped, leaping down to give pursuit again. Fortunately, it appeared that Kai was heading towards a cul-de-sac which would make it a lot easier to corral her.

"Ok, this is almost over. We corner her here. Control, get a containment team here with mental suppressers. Might as well see if they work, dust off my old one," Matt said into his comm, spotting his sister on a roof ahead and wondering how she was keeping ahead.

XLR8 was currently chasing Kai into the cul-de-sac as the others started to surround it. "Trust me, Kai, this is for your own good," said XLR8. Suddenly, a wall of vines sprung up, separating XLR8 from Kai. "What the-" was all the Kineceleran had time to say before he ran right into it.

Kai turned in animalistic surprise as the vines hemmed her into the cul-de-sac, sniffing around as someone said, "Shame on you all, picking on a defenseless animal." followed by the voice of the alpha who bit her originally snapping "Who the smeg is this moron?"

"I am Pax, alien rights activist," said the Florauna who was dressed like a hippy, "And I cannot stand by and watch you cruelly capture this wild animal."

Matt glared, "Get out the way, you little moron before I get a flamethrower. That 'animal' in there is in need of medical attention before she bites someone and causes a pandemic."

"You have no right to get in the way of nature's processes," said Pax.

"It was caused by nanites," said Matt promptly, only for Pax to stare, "You know, little teeny-tiny machines that can do basically anything?"

"I didn't sprout yesterday, man," said Pax, "I know when one of nature's innocent creatures is being oppressed."

Matt glared before talking into his comm. "Hey Scout, can our stomachs handle vegetables?" he said pointedly .

"We can ingest the occasional roughage, but not too much," said Scout.

"Oh...dammit. Could you get over here? We've got a hippy infestation," he said darkly as Ben came too.

"Ok, who put the vines in... Oh, not him again," groaned Ben.

"You know this moron?" said Matt darkly .

"Yeah, Pax has a hobby of letting animals loose," said Ben, "Especially really dangerous animals that should be in a cage for everyone's safety."

"Cages are a travesty, man," said Pax, "Every creature should know what freedom looks like."

Matt glared at that. "Tough cheese, plant boy. Get out my way or I'll be forced to have my men tie you in knots and toss you in a wood chipper," he snapped .

Just then, Kai had apparently gotten bored with her surroundings and used her sonic howl to blast through a building. She jumped through the substantial wall that she made and further away from the mercs. "That's right, you beautiful being!" called Pax, "Run to freedom!"

"Captain Anderson! Toss this vegetable in the nearest thing we have to a brig!" yelled Matt at that, Pax's comments being the final straw .

"Uh, I gotta be going," said Pax before he tunneled into the ground.

"I think we are most likely to encounter him again when we next get close to capturing Kai," observed Rook.

"Good, by then I'll have worked out how to switch to incendiary rounds," said Matt darkly .

Kala sighed and said, "Maybe we're going about this the wrong way. Maybe instead of just chasing Kai all around, maybe we should lure her to us."

"We need something to tempt her. Food's out the question cause otherwise she'd have tried to eat someone by now...hey, Ben. You still got Benwolf?" asked Matt, thoughtfully .

"It's Blitzwolfer now and I'd rather not use him unless I have to," said Ben.

"Well, there's one group I know of that can help with luring," said Kala before activating her comm.

After a few seconds, Draco picked up and asked, "Hey Kala, what's up?"

"We've got a little problem down here," said Kala.

"Let me guess, Matt has been taken over by his new savage instincts and needs to be captured," said Draco.

"Actually, it's Kai, who's been bitten by Matt previously, that needs to be captured," said Kala.

"Close enough, we'll be down there in a few minutes and we'll bring bait," said Draco before hanging up.

* * *

"This is your idea of bait?" asked Matt skeptically, which was not unwarranted seeing how Morph was in a lamb costume and Chip was wearing a red hooded cape and carrying a basket.

"Hey, it works in the storybooks," said Draco, "And in case these two don't work, I'll be bringing in a big pig."

"Why do I have to be Red Riding Hood?" asked Chip sourly.

"Yeah, Red Riding Hood looks more fun," said Morph.

"Because Chip would make a terrible sheep," said Draco.

"Oh, ok, but do I really need this raw mutton in my costume?" asked Morph.  
Matt nodded. "Yeah...I can smell it...from...here," he said, he and Scout all looking at Morph's costume intently

"Well, if it works on those two, it ought to work on Kai," said Draco, "Alright you two, get out there and make with the wolf luring."

"This is a total waste of my capabilities and intelligence," said Chip sourly as he and Morph went off.

"And skip for crying out loud!" snapped Draco.

"This is not gonna work," said Kala bluntly, holding up a finger as Rook opened his mouth, "Because it's one of our plans and they always go pear shaped."

"Lalalalala, I'm on my way to granny's house with my cute little lamb," said Chip in the most deadpan way possible.

"Moo," said Morph happily.

"Sheep go baa, you idiot," snapped Chip.

"Oh, ok, baa," said Morph.

Matt and Scout snapped out of it as the mutton smell vanished before Scout said glumly, "Oh, that's embarrassing."

"Now we just sit back and wait," said Draco confidently.

* * *

"Ok, we've been doing this for half an hour and my leg joints are seizing up from all the prancing...can we _please_ try plan b?" snapped chip, his skipping more of a Igor style lurch from the aforementioned leg joint malfunction. Morph meanwhile was barking.

"Yeah, I guess so. I would have thought Kai wouldn't resist the smell of raw mutton," said Draco.

"Maybe she likes it cooked," said Morph before pulling out the mutton, then a grill and started roasting the mutton on it.  
Rook just stared before saying, "How was that possible?"

Ben said, "You should have seen what he did when we first met." before a distant howl was heard.

Matt and Scout threw back their heads and howled too. "Uh, were we supposed to do that?" asked Matt.

"It's a communal instinct," said Scout, "It can't be helped."

"Uh, guys, I think Kai is very close to us," said Chip through the comm.

Matt nodded and turned on his comm. "Containment teams, you see that plant idiot, blast him into compost. He apparently regens anyway," he said before twitching as the cooking smell wafted into nasal range. "Wow, that smells...really...good..." said Matt, drool dripping from his muzzle as his stomach growled fiercely.

Scout, who was checking a scanner Chris had lent him looked up "Matt?" he asked, concerned before the smell got him too and his eyes glazed for a second. "Oh no," he said weakly, jumping to grab Matt just before he tried to lunge for Morph. "We...need that...bait," he managed as the others grabbed Matt .

"Just one bite, just a nibble," said Matt desperately as he clawed his way towards the mutton.

"No...we...we need...No, get a grip!" snapped Scout, though the last part might have also been to himself as he was drooling a bit too .

"Great, Kai's probably not gonna come near us now," said Chip before he heard growling behind him. He turned slowly to see Kai looking rather hungry. "You wouldn't hurt a little girl, would you?" he asked in a high-pitched voice. Kai's response was a sonic blast that reduced Chip to a pile of parts. "Great, now nothing'll hear right for weeks," he rasped as Kai turned to eye Morph .

"Hello puppy lady," said Morph in his usual obliviousness.

Chris yelled "Ben, grab her!" as he struggled with Matt .

"Hang on just a second," said Ben as he scrolled through his aliens.

But then, Pax popped out of the ground and said, "Wait, you can't hurt her. She's a precious innocent creature."

"Let him have it," snapped Chris as the mercs opened fire on Pax.

Pax yelped as Chris's team that weren't holding down either Scout, who was starting to snap as well or Matt opened fire, causing Pax to yelp and yell "Plumber brutality!" causing one merc to yell "We're not Plumbers."

"Huh, well, I guess we won't be needing the pig at all," commented Draco.

"Say, where is your pig costume anyways?" asked Kala.

"Costume? You think I'd dress up like a pig and let myself get mauled?" asked Draco, "Heck no, I got a real pig. I guess I'll get to eat him later after Kai's been bagged." Just then, there was the sound of breaking metal and Draco said, "Uh oh, I think it got loose."

"What? Your pig? How could it-" started Kala before a savage squealing was heard. Everyone turned to see what looked like a huge green boar with multiple tusks, six legs, and beady red eyes charging in their direction. A few mercs fired at it, but it jumped surprisingly high for something its size before landing and charging right through the mercs and heading straight for not the Loboans or the mutton, but at Pax himself who screamed and ran away.

"Draco, you're getting a pay raise when we get back to the ship," said Chris simply .

"What was that?" asked Chloe.

"Let me check," said Chip's head before projecting an image of the boar, "Momenrathus, one of the few animal species native to Flors Verdance. They've become an invasive species on several planets due to poachers taking them for hunting and losing them. Very aggressive species, but fortunately it's a plant-eater. However, it prefers to eat sentient plants."

"That'll do it. Ben, grab Kai before we have to deal with three rabid Loboans. Boss, get a grip!" snapped Techo, before rasping as Matt grabbed him by the neck and used him to hit Chris .

"Ok, time to get back to business," said Ben before changing into Swampfire.

"Let's wrap this up," said Swampfire before causing large vines to come out of the ground and tied up the Loboans. "There, that wasn't so bad," said Swampfire before a ferocious squeal was heard.

The Momenrathus ran back into view at that, looking around for where Pax had gone apparently before spotting Swampfire and its hungry little eyes lighting up at the sight of a meal. "Stay back, piggy," said Swampfire before blasting fire out of his hands. But the Momenrathus jumped over the flames and started charging at Swampfire.

Kai, meanwhile, had finished pummeling Morph and was in the middle of the mutton before she looked up to see the Momenrathus going for Swampfire, a part of her brain unaffected by the nanites poking recognition before the nanites tried to point out that the objective was the food.

"Might I suggest changing into something further up the food chain?" asked Skurd.

"Kinda have my hands full right now," said Swampfire before the Momenrathus suddenly bit off his lower arms. "Any time you guys wanna help out would be fine," snapped Swampfire as he regrew his arms.

The marines, those not trying to subdue the Loboans began shooting at that, the Momenrathus turning angrily to face the little apes interrupting its dinner .

Swampfire quickly took the opportunity to slap the Omnitrix and became Blitzwolfer. "I should have known," he muttered to himself, "At least Blitzwolfer can take out this big bad pig."

Kai turned to growl at that, before pausing, this time the familiarity rather strong, made easier by the fact that the mutton was all gone now . Blitzwolfer's appearance reminded Kai of protection, affection, and strength. That and his impressive physique added up to one thing in her simplified mine: mate. This was quite evident in the way her eyes had turned into hearts, her excited panting, and the enthusiastic wagging of her tail.  
Bliztwolfer meanwhile had pummeled the Momenrathus easily, the pig creature, despite its size, easily floored by a creature that could break walls with a shout...well that's if the spirals for its eyes were any judgment. "Ok, now to put you out for the count," said Blitzwolfer before a black furred blur tackled him, the Momenrathus looking confused before its primitive voice saying to it "Hey...the killer wolf's gone...let's run away very fast." its body agreeing .

As the Momenrathus started fleeing, Blitzwolfer yelled, "Hey, get back here, you stupid-" before something licked his face. Blitzwolfer looked up to see Kai sitting on top of him looking for all the world like a love-struck puppy.

Techo couldn't help but smirk and say, "Aw, she likes you." before shouldering his tazer blaster. "Hold that pose. You may feel a tingle," he said, Kai turning to snarl to see a bolt of lightning coming the other way before everything to her went white .

Chloe in her own Shar armor went over and pulled Kai off of Blitzwolfer. "Why didn't you use that form in the first place?" she asked.

"For all I knew, she would have attacked me even more savagely," said Blitzwolfer.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," said Kala, giggling, a team running up with what Ben recognized, slightly worryingly as a piece of Matts old wrist computer, slightly burnt.

"What is that for?" asked Blitzwolfer.

"Matt's old mental inhibitor. It works on all mental nasties, should work on Kai. Just be ready, she might freak out like nobody's business," said Techo cheerfully .

Kai was already starting to stir so Blitzwolfer went over to her. "Uh, just stay there, good girl," said Blitzwolfer while scratching behind her ears. Kai just whined happily, leaning into the scratching before going wide eyed as one marine, sadly new to the crew yelled "NOW!" Luckily it seemed the fates decided to cut a break as they managed to get the inhibitor on, earpiece style with only one guy out cold.

Kai snarled and tried to get at the earpiece, but Blitzwolfer held her tight until the inhibitor fully kicked in. The result was a brief crown of electricity from ear to ear as the inhibitor 'tuned in' before Kai's eyes focused. "Wha-what happened?" asked Kai in a slightly deeper version of her normal voice, "Where am I?"

"Undertown," said Matt, waving cheerfully.

"Matt? What's going on here?" asked Kai, "And what's with my voice?"

Matt looked nervous before saying "Nothing," Kala muttering "Wuss." behind him .

"Uh, Kai, something really unexpected happened," said Ben, "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Seeing fur on my...hands..." said Kai as she looked down at herself and noticed a lot more body hair than usual.

"Yeaaah, about that...sorry?" said Matt nervously .

"You did this to me?!" snarled Kai.

"It was an accident!" yelped Matt, jumping back .

"Accident?! You turned me into a werewolf!" snapped Kai.

"Miss Kai, you are aware that Loboans are not truly-" started Rook before Kai growled at him. "I shall remain quiet until your rage is vented," said Rook.

"Please don't vent," gulped Matt, his brain knowing what venting wound mean...pain...lots of it .

"I told you that you would get your comeuppance," said Skurd.

"Shut up, you, you, I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU ARE!" snapped Matt.

"Uh, Kai, should you back off just a little?" asked Blitzwolfer.

"No," snapped Kai.

"Ok...can I join in then?" asked Blitzwolfer.

Kai smiled and said happily, "Yes you can."

A fireball shot between them at that, the save slightly spoiled when it shot into Matt's face. "Nobody beats up my bushi bu!" roared Kala, her left eye twitching .

"Aw, not even when he deserves it?" asked Chris before backing up when Kala glared at him. "I mean, yes...no attacking the commander," he said glumly, disappointed .

Kai gave Matt one last growl which made Matt yip with fright and hide behind Scout. "Uh, don't we have a giant alien boar to take care of?" asked Techo.

"Already taking care of it," said Draco was wearing a chef's hat and an apron that said 'Beam up the cook'.

"Trust me, he'll handle it," said Chris with a bit of disgust.

"So, do you have a cure for this thing or not?" demanded Blitzwolfer.

"Not really, not until we get that mirror back," said Matt, "And those Galvan guys you have weren't any real use.

At that point, the Omnitrix timed out and Ben changed back to normal, which made Kai give a disappointed whine. "I want a second opinion on this," said Ben, "And there's only one guy in the galaxy who's smart enough to figure this out."

* * *

"What do you mean 'Not interested'?" said Matt in a voice you could bend adamantium round, such was the self-control .

"I am an extremely busy Galvan," said Azmuth, "I have more important things to work on that demand my attention. Your minor problem has low priority. Call back in a year when I'm less busy."

Matt lost patience at that. He'd been communicating on audio only to spare him the shame but now he activated visual feed and snapped, "Now look here, you little gremlin. We need a fix and we need one now. Don't make me come over there."

Azmuth gave Matt an interested look and said, "Hmm...fascinating. But this isn't the first time I've seen someone be converted into another species, hardly. The Loboan form is barely novel either. And it does not seem to be life-threatening so I don't see any point of rushing."  
Matt twitched before snapping "GET THE NUKES!" before Ben pulled him aside.

"Let me have a try. You're not the sort of guy to nuke Azmuth," he muttered to Matt who looked _exactly_ like the sort of person to do that at that moment.

Ben turned to the vidscreen and said, "Azmuth, Matt's not the only one who's got a Loboan problem. He bit Kai and she's a Loboan now too."

"A bit more out of the ordinary, but unless they're about to go a rampage, I do not see why this merits my immediate concern."

As Azmuth was turning away, Ben said, "Wait, Azmuth, I can't leave Kai like this, not any longer than it has to take. Wouldn't you do anything you could to keep your girlfriend?"

Azmuth paused at that before sighing. "I knew you'd eventually use that against me some day," said Azmuth, "Very well, bring the patients over and I'll have a look at them. No, actually, it would save more time if I went there. Stand back please." There was a sudden flash and Azmuth was suddenly on their side of the vidscreen.

Matt and the crew yelped at that. "DON'T DO THAT!" screamed Matt .

"It's just simple teleportation technology," said Azmuth, "I forgot you NSC don't use it that often." He looked up at Matt and said, "Hmm...you look worse in person. Now where's this Miss Kai?"

"Medbay 3, we're making sure the inhibitor doesn't fall off," said Matt .

"Inhibitor?" asked Azmuth.

"Mental inhibitor, so she won't go wild on us," said Ben.

"Ah, yes, that makes it easier," said Azmuth, "Show me to her."

Matt nodded, he and several marines leading the way to a medbay door with two heavily armed marines on sentry duty. "Given I easily broke out when I snapped, I thought heavy duty was a good idea," he said ,

"Wise choice," said Azmuth as the door opened. Kai was strapped to a bed but looked rather lucid, if annoyed about her predicament.

She immediately opened her mouth only for Matt to say in what seemed like a repeat, "It's for everyone's safety."

Azmuth hopped up onto the bed and examined Kai. "Hmm...interesting," he said. He started looking through her fur, checking her eyes and ears. He even quite daringly stick his head in her mouth.  
He finally seemed at a conclusion, Ben asking, "So? What do you think?"

"I think you could do better," said Azmuth.

"What?" asked Ben.

"Well, asides from her current condition, this young lady has no remarkable traits to be observed. I would have thought that you would choose someone more...extraordinary," said Azmuth.

"Oh, like he's so perfect," said Kai, "He relies on that watch to do all his fighting and he barely learns how to do anything without it. The wonder that he's scrawny is because of his constantly eating chilli fries and smoothies. Doesn't sound that extraordinary himself, does he?"

Azmuth smiled and said, "I take it back. She's the perfect match for you. She counterbalances your ego precisely."  
There was a chorus of sniggers at that from everyone in the room . "Ha, ha, very funny," said Ben dryly, "Now what about Kai? Can you fix her?"

"Well, it is complicated," said Azmuth, "I need to know more about where she got those nanites infesting her."

"Evil space machine, it got stole when the Incurseans decided to use our fleet for target practice," said Matt darkly

"I need more specific details than 'evil space machine'," said Azmuth.

"Revenite invention. It set off our alert at class 12...as in off the scale," said Chris .

"Revenite? I had thought we heard the last of them over a thousand years ago," said Azmuth.

"Nope...ran into them 3 times already," said Matt .

"You encountered a living revenite?" asked Azmuth, "That makes this situation more serious than I thought."

"We can take care of the vampire guy later," said Ben, "What about Kai?"

"Well, unless I can properly examine this machine of his, a complete fix is not possible. But I think I can alleviate the worst of the symptoms. Is your laboratory fully-equipped?"  
Aria, on a holoscreen, nodded, "This is the most advanced ship the NSC ever built. We have a fully operational medical laboratory and 6 nanolathes in the ship foundry."

"Ah that should make it much simpler," said Azmuth, "Take me to the nearest nanolathe."

* * *

After a while, Matt headed down to the foundry, sweating from the heat. While the nanolathes could make anything, certain things needed to be made the normal way, meaning actual foundries. He finally came to lathe 3 and found Azmuth at the input controls. "Watcha making?" he asked .

"You do recall your encounter with the Wyrves Dracon Unitrix, yes?" asked Azmuth. When Matt gave a blank look, Azmuth sighed and said, "You probably remember it by the inaccurate name of the Drac Omnitrix."

"Oh, yeah. Haven't seen him for ages," said Matt cheerfully .

"Well, I made several versions of the Unitrix, each designed to contain a single DNA source, though I eventually moved to the far more advanced Omnitrix," said Azmuth, "While I cannot remove the nanites within Ms. Kai's systems, I can allow her to alternate to a human-enough form with a customized Unitrix."  
"That sounds good. What could go wrong?" he said, adding the last part darkly .

"The worst case scenario would be if Kai regressed to a completely feral Loboan, but I've already taken measures to ensure that wouldn't happen," said Azmuth.

"Ok, anything else I should be aware of given I'm in the same boat?" asked Matt

"Your case is even more complex," said Azmuth, "Your body is already filled with Shar nanites which, if I recall your timeline correctly, are currently inactive. The revenite nanites will have integrated into your system to fill in gaps that your other nanites have made. That unfortunately includes the nanites that maintain your vital functions."

"So...if I get cured I drop dead?" said Matt in a distant voice .

"Well...not precisely, might involve temporarily stopping your heart," said Azmuth.

"Yes, that has 'stopping heart' as part of the solution and therefore is BAD!" snapped Matt .

"I'll have a better answer when I have that terraforming device," said Azmuth.

"Great, there's only a few galaxies to find it in," said Matt sarcastically .

"The revenite shall make himself known sooner than later," said Azmuth, "I have seen how they operate. One simply has to keep an eye out for patterns."

"And those patterns are?" asked Matt .

Just then, there was a ding and Azmuth said, "Ah, it's ready."

Matt wandered up before frowning as what was clearly a dog collar with an Omnitrix symbol was visible. "Seriously?" he said flatly .

"Were you expecting something more ornate?" asked Azmuth.

"I was expecting something that didn't look like it was for a pet," said Matt.

"If her Loboan instincts take over, she would see a watch form as a manacle and would probably gnaw her own arm off," said Azmuth.

"Hmm...ok. You can give it to her," said Matt simply .

"You make it sound like it is dangerous," said Azmuth dismissively.

"It's a trix, of course it's dangerous. I trust genetic tech as far as I can toss this ship," snapped Matt .

"Is that all? I would have expected you to be more open-minded," said Azmuth.

"Course not. I've seen what genetic tech run amok can do...twice," said Matt .

"Let me guess, designed by less intelligent scientists of your organization?" asked Azmuth.

Matt glared and said, "Hey, uncalled for. Not just us, saw the Atlanteans...magic...all of it genetic tech and nasty as hell."

"Unlike your kind, I never intended my genetic research to be meant for military purposes," said Azmuth sternly, "The Omnitrix was originally designed to be a backup in case any sentient species in the galaxy went extinct as well as to allow one to, as you Earthlings say, walk a mile in another's shoes. Technology is neither good nor evil, it's what their users do with it."

"Neither was that mirror thing apparently," snapped Matt .

"I rather doubt that," said Azmuth, "I know _exactly_ what I'm doing with this Unitrix. Unless you can conceive of a better way to stabilize her form, I suggest you help me put this on her."

"I thought you said it wouldn't be dangerous to put it on her," said Matt.

"It isn't, but I can't reach both sides of her neck to get it on her," said Azmuth.

Matt grumbled before saying, "If I lose any fingers..."

* * *

Kai was a bit more cooperative than Matt had expect, but she did growl when he pulled at her fur a bit.

"Ok...aaaand connected," said Matt calmly .

"Finally," said Kai, "So I just push this button and I'm back to being human?"

"That is what should happen," said Azmuth. Kai quickly pushed the button and green light passed over her as she shrunk down. However, she didn't become completely human. There were quite a few lupine traits such as sharp teeth, prominent body hair on her arms and back, claws on her fingers and toes, a thick bushy monobrow and pointed ears. "I had a feeling that might happen," said Azmuth, "Fortunately, I added a second feature." He jumped up and pushed the other button and Kai shimmered before appearing human again.  
"A holocloak, should hold up under anything but close scrutiny," said Matt .

"Kai, your Loboan instincts might be suppressed, but eventually they'll push to get free. I suggest you use your Loboan form at least once a day to relieve the pressure," said Azmuth.

There was a few glares at that. "Well this is a nice surprise. Any other doctor's orders you left out?" Matt snapped.

Azmuth cleared his throat and said a bit uncomfortably, "A few things, but they'd best be discussed in private."

"One more thing, sir," said a marine at that, walking in dragging an annoyed Mina.

Matt's eye twitched a bit and said, "I don't think my senses are working right. Because that looks like a slightly older Lumina and she has her scent. But that can't be right because we left her back on Avalar, right?"

Mina gulped before spreading her arms and saying mock cheerfully, "Happy birthday surprise?"

Matt turned to Chris and asked, "Is it my birthday here?"

"I don't think so," said Chris. "I thought not," said Matt before suddenly shouting, "BECAUSE I CERTAINLY DIDN'T ASK FOR MINA TO BE HERE!"

Mina gulped. "Erm...Merry Christmas?" she tried, Matt starting to growl.

* * *

The Archon sat back at the screen. "So, the mirror kicked in," he said, looking at some online footage of Kai

"The Galvan device is modulating her programming and implanted instincts," said a drone, "The chances of her spreading the terraforming nanites are minimal."  
"So? That was never the intention. I would have dispatched you for immediate incineration protocol had it been in danger of further spread. What is the status of galactic resources? Other revenite ships and other assets must still be active. Are any online?" the Archon said calmly .

"Negative," said the drone, "However, a beacon has been detected in a remote and obscure sector," said the drone.

"Highlight sector," said the Archon calmly.

"Scanning...class four research vessel detected...status: Disabled. Cause: Unknown. Unidentified technorganic lifeform detected in zone," said the drone calmly, a holoscreen zooming in on a desolate-looking planet.

The Archon looked at the planet thoughtfully before saying, "Launch a probe. Scan the system for anything of interest."

"Yes, Archon. Time to completion: 48 sol hours." the drone said calmly

"Plenty of time," said the Archon calmly, "They'll never be able to find us."

"Should I prepare a distraction as a stand by?" asked the drone, several different...creatures appearing in holoform.

"Why not?" said the Archon, "After so many centuries with nothing to do, I could use some entertainment."

* * *

There's the next chapter. As you can see, Matt did not come out completely unscathed by his encounter with the mirror last chapter. It sure seems impossible for him to _not _get into situations like this. And we'll be seeing plenty of Kai in the rest of this fic. I thought it would be suitably ironic for her to be stuck as the same species of the one Omnitrix alien she obsesses over most. And we have another unexpected guest with Lumina, though I bet some of you would have suspected she'd stowaway. In case your curious, the Momenrathus is my own design for a Nemetrix alien that was part of an unofficial contest on deviantART. A picture of it is on my account if you want to look.

Anyways, the next chapter might be a bit longer in getting up because it's going to be a three-parter. But it's definitely not one you'll want to pass over. Things are only going to get more exciting from here. So keep an eye out for updates and please review.


	3. Mark of the Beast, pt 1

**Reticence Saga**

**The Aliens Within**

**Chapter 3: Mark of the Beast, pt. 1**

Log access requested...DENIED...Non-match DNA...security has been informed.

...

Matt growled at that before snapping the PDA in half from annoyance, yelping when he found it took hardly any effort at all for his current form. So far, being a Loboan has more cons than pros. There were plenty of jokes being made behind his back which he was able to pick up easier with his new ears. And there were quite a lot of jokes being made to his face as well. Even Kala had been treating him like a puppy dog lately. Morph had been the worst with the bones appearing next to Matt every morning...and the collar. Morph was currently trying to pull himself together...literally.

Even without the others' treatment, grooming has become more of a hassle than normal. Fur didn't dry out nearly as quickly as scales, causing the smell of wet dog to cling to him for at least an hour after showers. Not to mention the shedding he's been doing. At least the fleas had been treated.

His ears perked up as he heard footsteps and a particularly pleasant scent before saying "Come in, Kala."

"There's no sneaking up on you anymore, is there?" commented Kala as she came in.

"None at all, Kala," said Matt.

"Bet you're still clueless at guessing though," said Kala. Matt turned to see Kala with her hands behind her back and a grin that meant mischief on her face. "Guess what I've got," she said.

Matt's eyes narrowed and he said, "If it's a leash, so help me I'll bite your arm off."

"Nope, guess again," said Kala.

"Dog biscuit?" said Matt scathingly .

"Nope," said Kala, grinning widely.

"Holocloak?" said Matt, trying a serious one .

"Something you don't already have," said Kala.

"Ok, I give up," said Matt, in an annoyed tone .

Kala whipped out from behind her back what looked like a large fish. At a second glance, it was obviously made out of plastic. "Thought you'd like a chew toy," said Kala, squeezing the fish and making it squeak.

Matt glared before calmly taking the fish off her then hitting her repeatedly with it and finally shoving it in her mouth. "THE JOKE GOT OLD THE FIRST TIME!" he snarled angrily .

Kala spat out the fish and said, "Oh, I thought couples were supposed to give each other fish when one of them has been turned into a beast."

Matt gave Kala an annoyed look and said, "You're still bent up about that? I thought you let it go months ago."

"You're not getting over it," said Kala loftily, Matt growling at that .

"Would it be too much to ask that, out of all my crew, my girlfriend would be the one person showing any empathy?" growled Matt.

"Maybe if you hadn't treated me like a mock dragon for a month," said Kala .

"You were completely indistinguishable from the only other dragon of your type there," snapped Matt, "Even the one feature you had which wouldn't have changed was a different color and even if hadn't changed, you'd still wouldn't look any different. How was I supposed to know?!"

"Well you look the same as any other Loboan," said Kala bitterly, stomping out .

"I'm still able to talk!" snapped Matt. When no response came, Matt just roared with frustration and slashed at the wall. The walls in his room had gotten several scratches on it lately.

Aria chimed up at that. "Sir, are you ok? Should I inform Plumber Scout?" she asked, not even blinking as Matt snapped at her . "Sir, I suggest you calm yourself before you trash another piece of furniture," said Aria.

"Calm? CALM? YOU WANT ME TO BE CALM?" roared Matt .

"As you recall what Plumber Scout has told you, the more frustration you exert, the stronger your bestial trails will become," said Aria, "For instance, I notice you've barely dressed today."

Matt glared before saying, "Every time I try to put a shirt on, I tear it apart by accident."

"You've not been sleeping your bed either," said Aria.

"It's too small," grumbled Matt, "Besides, the floor is more...comfortable."

"And that doesn't ring any alarm bells at all?" said Aria carefully, before adding, "And let go of the fish."

Matt, holding the squeaky toy, which he was squeezing every minute or so with a annoyed look. "It's stress relief," protested Matt.

"Yes, and I suppose you haven't noticed that you've been pacing on all fours for the last two minutes."

Matt stood up at that before snapping, "Ok, so I'm stressed. You would be too."

"Of course, and I would make it a priority to relieve that stress. And I don't think squeezing a fish is going to be enough," said Aria. Matt glared before childishly squeaking the fish again. Aria sighed, "I'll call Mr. Scout."

"Fine, whatever," said Matt, "It's not like I've got anything to do today anyways." He glanced at the pile of bones that Morph had left and his stomach gave a slight growl. "Uh, get him here soon," said Matt.

...

Matt wasn't the only one having trouble with his situation. Kai was currently getting some verbal training from Scout at that moment too.

"This kind of behavior isn't that uncommon back home," said Scout, "But your planet's standards are apparently higher. So while I personally don't see too many reasons wrong with it, I believe it's important you refrain from eating raw eggs."

"I don't know what came over me," said Kai, sounding more than a little embarrassed.

"Simple, you were hungry and we Loboans have less discerning appetites than other races," said Scout.

"At least nobody saw me," groaned Kai sadly.

"Er, that might not be quite true," said Scout.

Kai's ears went flat at that. "What?" she said weakly .

"Er, you were a bit hard to not notice," said Scout.

Kai covered her eyes at that before saying, "How many hits?"

"Hits?" asked Scout, not understanding.

"On the internet or extranet or whatever," said Kai.

"Oh, the captain has disabled all extranet connections," said Scout, "To keep anyone from learning too much about the past six years."

Kai sighed with minor relief at that. Just then, Draco walked by and said, "Hey Kai, still got egg on your face."

Kai whimpered at that as Scout aimed an angry look at the experiment who ran off, just as Matt came in, earning the award for worst moment to arrive. "Morning, you two been to the mess hall yet?" asked Matt, "They're having bacon and scrambled-" He was cut off when Kai jumped on Matt and started beating him up.

...

Once he'd been rescued, Scout looked at the various reports Aria had sent him. "This is not good. If I am reading this right, you are both about one small step from going feral," he said .

"It's not irreversible, isn't it?" asked Matt, absently scratching his ear with his hind foot.

"It's not easy though," said Scout, "And nearly impossible without you doing something you'll regret afterwards."

"Wait...what kind of regrettable things? I don't have much regret left. I need to horde it," he said carefully .

"Well, injuring someone would be the least of it," said Scout meaningfully, "But overcoming that is simple: self-control. You have to learn it."

Matt stared before starting to laugh. "You do have my history file, right?" he managed .

"Yes, but anyone can be overwhelmed by an unfamiliar sensation," said Scout.

"Really? Name one," said Matt, Scout running his claws down the room's paneling...Matt's precious ship.

"Such as the Loboan's drive to protect their territory," said Scout as he carved circles into the walls.

Matt, to his credit was only shaking in place, the squeaky fish's head inflated to rather uncomfortable-looking size from his squeezing it. The eye twitch was also pretty impressive, being at a speed worthy of most Morse code machines.

"Most Loboans cannot stand other Loboans invading their territory or leaving their mark," said Scout conversationally. Matt tried to look away and ignore Scout. But then he heard the sound of unzipping.

...

"...and it was that point that I tried to chew Plumber Scout's head off, Mr. Tennyson," said Matt embarrassedly.

Max rubbed his forehead and said, "To be honest, I would have expected you to have lashed out at him sooner."

"I need a cure...before I need a collar," groaned Matt, "Tell me Azmuth has the cure finished."

"Not yet, unfortunately," said Max, "Not until he has the mirror to study. But we have another problem that requires more immediate treatment."

"Will it involve me punching something?" asked Matt darkly .

"It would more likely involve running," said Max, "I don't suppose you've heard of Khyber the Huntsman."

"Can't say I have." said Matt.

"Khyber is, well, pretty much what you'd think of when you imagine an alien big game hunter," said Max.

"Let me guess, he includes sentient beings as well as non-sentients to his trophy room," said Matt.

"Yes, and for a time, he was bent on hunting Ben for his ultimate trophy," said Max.  
Matt raised an eyebrow at that. "Ok, what was his gig? He'd have needed one to take on Ben and not be wrapped up in more bandages then a Thep Khufan," he said .

Max put an image on the computer of a symbol that reminded Matt of the Omnitrix. However, it was hexagonal instead of round and it looked more like a fang-filled mouth. "This is the Nemetrix, a copy of the Omnitrix that's more limited in forms, but potentially more dangerous. While the Omnitrix contains DNA from sentient beings, the Nemetrix contains DNA from non-sentient beings, namely the natural predators of some of Ben's aliens."

"Ouch, bio weapons. Sounds nas...did you say non-sentient?" said Matt, pausing .

"Yes, and don't think that just because they're alien beasts, they're any less dangerous," said Max as she showed a few images of the predators that were in the Nemetrix.

Matt yelped at that, jumping back at some of the images. "What complete fruit loop would make something like that?" he snapped .

"Dr. Psychobos, he wanted to prove that his intellect was superior to Azmuth's," said Max, showing an image of a Cerebrocrustasean with an oversized right claw, "Don't worry about him, he's imprisoned in a parallel dimension."

"Good riddance by the sounds of it. He, erm, isn't one of mine, is he?" said Matt, innocently fishing for information before he twitched.

"I doubt it," said Max, "But that's not important right now. Because of the savage nature of its stored forms, the Nemetrix can't be used by sentient beings or the biofeedback could destroy their minds. Khyber got around this by first equipping it to his 'hunting dogs' and then using Skurd."

"The snot bubble living on Ben's Omnitrix?" said Matt calmly, thinking about it, "They do eat DNA so it makes sense. I'm guessing there's a 'but' to this story. Which poor sod did he shove it on?"

"Well, Khyber last used it himself, indirectly," said Max, "He had Skurd attached to the Nemetrix and create armor and weapons from the stored DNA. But then Skurd took a bigger interest in the Omnitrix and jumped ships, leaving Khyber to be transformed by the Nemetrix directly. We got in off him in time, but lately he's been showing symptoms."

"Symptoms...oh boy. This is why genetic tech's banned. What symptoms? Do we need to make one of the cells acid proof?" said Matt a little sarcastically .

"No, he was mutated with a different predator," said Max, highlighting a beast that looked like a cross between a dinosaur and a centipede. The information displayed identified it as a Tyrannopede, the natural predator of Vaxasaurians.

"So, he's been turning into a big web-shooting lizard lately?" asked Matt.

"Partially, and he's been babbling a bit more," said Max, "I'm not sure what his mutation could do to him, but I don't want to find out. I've already seen somebody lose themselves because of the Nemetrix, I won't let another happen."

"Ah..." said Matt, twitching again before going rigid as he heard a voice in his head say "Nanite reboot complete...DNA scan complete..." before he said "Is this a bad time to ask for tranquillizer?"

"What for?" asked Max with worry, "You're not about to go feral, are you?"

"No idea...my nanites are saying things...weird things," said Matt darkly, before hiccupping. Matt raised an eyebrow before flinching as Matt hiccupped again. His hiccups started to increase in frequency, much to his annoyance. At the same time Matt's wrist comp, now built into his cyber arm began beeping madly and crackling before there was a flash and a crash.

When Max looked, Matt was sticking halfway through the door, the metal sliding door. "Medic..." he groaned weakly. He was also human again, though his eyes still had similar colors to his Loboan form. As Max watched, his cyberarm slowly slotted back to a human form .

"Matt, what do you have integrated into your body?" asked Max.

"I lost my arm 3 months ago. My life sucks by the way. Now about that medic. I think my spine's broken," moaned Matt before slowly falling out the new hole and onto the floor.

"I think you might need a more experienced doctor," said Max.

"Nah, I get broken bones every other week. Just need a patch job which is not yet here!" snapped Matt. Matt rubbed the top of his head before pausing. "Mirror...where's a mirror?" he snapped, looking in the door and seeing his human reflection...well, apart from the eyes but beggars couldn't be choosers. "I think you're right about seeing a more experienced doctor...but not before my back is fixed. MEDIC!"

...

A few minutes later and he and Kai, also in her human form, with yellow eyes, were being prodded by who matt thought off as 'the Galvan equivalent of Dumb and Dumber'. "Can we get a real medic? Or the mascot?" he said carefully .

"It's a simple spinal column realignment," said Driba, "We can have it done in a few seconds once we've located the displaced vertebrate."

"But the nanites fixed it before I got here...and I thought you were checking to see why we're human again," said Matt, whimpering a little .

"Oh, we can't explain that," said Driba.

"Sure, it's cause you're werewolves," said Blukic.

"They are not real werewolves," said Driba.

"They're like real werewolves," said Blukic.

"Werewolves?" said Kai.

Matt grinned and calling "SECURITY!" As soon as the guards came in, Matt said, "Get these two little quacks out of my sight and find me an _actual_ doctor."

"Not that's not very nice," said Blukic.

"Neither's your knowledge of medicine. Werewolves don't exist...sometimes," said Matt, pausing .

"Fortunately, where you'll be going will have trained medical professionals who'll have a better answer," said Max.

"Pardon?" asked Matt.

"As I was saying before your hiccup fit, Khyber needs to be transported to a Galvan hospital center to deal with his Tyrannopede mutation before it becomes irreversible," said Max, "And I'm positive there's enough Galvan physicians to explain your condition."

"Finally, answers. Will a cure be included?" said Matt hopefully, groaning as Max said "Afraid not, it'll probably take a while to make one but it'll be a start."

"Fine, whatever, anything else we should know about Khyber?" asked Matt.

"Don't leave him alone. Even unmutated he's extremely dangerous," warned Max .

"Got it," said Matt, "Let's move out before I need another haircut."

...

Khyber, unmutated, watched with his usual calm demeanor as Magister Tennyson walked towards his cell. "To what do I owe this visit?" he said calmly .

"You're going to the doctor," said Max sternly.

"I'm touched that you care for my well-being," said Khyber in a taunting manner.

Max glared before Matt walked into view. "I don't think he does. I know I don't but we're going there anyway and you turning into a giant monster from a giant moron and pain."

"Well, well, Admiral Lynch," said Khyber, "This is an unexpected surprise."

"Wrong timeframe. I'm back when h was more carefree and bloodthirsty and didn't have to worry about silly things like getting you there alive. I'm your ride," said Matt conversationally .

"Well, this will be entertaining," said Khyber.

"For me, yes. If you try anything or even look at me or my crew, I'll vent you out an airlock and hyperspeed and let the wormhole wall disintegrate you," said Matt calmly.

"Enough, Matt," said Max, "He needs to go to the treatment center."

Matt looked at Khyber who was smirking "That's all down to him; he behaves or not," he said.

Khyber said smoothly, "I have every reason to get...treatment so getting there is in my own interest."

"You don't look so bad to me," said Kala, who had come along.

"Oh, it doesn't act up all the time. Mostly when I'm angry, stressed, or hungry," said Khyber, "Come to think of it, I am rather...puckish..." Suddenly, he lit up with red light as his body surged in size and shifted drastically in form. In less than five seconds, he was a massive Tyrannopede and roaring loudly while slamming against the walls.

Matt somehow managed to keep his voice level and said. "If he does that on the ship I _will_ flush him."

"Just make sure he doesn't get hungry and don't antagonize him," said Max, "He'll calm down in a minute and then we'll be able to feed him."

"What do we look like, zookeepers?" retorted Matt. When Max gave him a stern look, Matt said, "Fine, we'll make sure he gets there safe and sound, even if he doesn't deserve it. Right, Kala? Kala?"  
Kala meanwhile was almost white, the Tyrannopede eyeing her. "I'm...not feeding anything to him," she said weakly.

"Oh don't tell me you're scared of that overgrown lizard," said Matt.

"HE'S AN OVERGROWN CENTIPEDE!" snapped Kala, "A GIANT CENTIPEDE WITH MORE CLAWS AND FANGS THAN A CENTIPEDE OUGHT TO HAVE!"

"I know, I'm trying not to scream myself. But we have guns and he'll be in an armored cell," said Matt calmly .

The Tyrannopede growled and ran its tongue around its lips. Kala got as far away from the cell as possible. Matt turned to Max and said, "Just as well that he's not a big spider. That would freak Chloe out."

"I'm not sure. Chloe's been acting...weird," said Kala, glad to have an excuse to avoid the subject of Khyber's current form, who was currently switching his attention to a mechanical arm holding some meat in his cell .

"We've got a pretty narrow definition of 'weird'," said Matt.

"I'll tell you on the ship," said Kala, walking out with one final look at Khyber before yelping as she swallowed the meat chunk in one bite .

After swallowing the meat, Khyber shifted back to his normal form and said, "I look forward to our voyage, Captain Lynch."

Matt nodded weakly, shoving his human hand behind his back when it sprouted claws briefly from the stress.

...

Kala wasn't the only one creeped out by Khyber. The experiments were also rather hesitant to have him aboard, particularly Draco.

"Ok, helping Ben's girlfriend, I get. Why are we helping someone who on any other day would mount us on his wall...and can turn into something that can eat us?" Draco said, the experiment foursome discussing what matt had signed them up for .

"Because the Galvans at that medical facility will probably also be able to help us with this nanite problem," said Chip.

"So? We could still take Kai," said Draco stubbornly .

"Apparently, an old partner of Max's wore the Nemetrix himself at some point," said Chip, "He was left untreated and the mutation consumed his personality. Max didn't want to see it happen to anyone else."

"Big difference, I doubt this guy _has_ friends. He tried to kill Ben for sport," snapped Draco.

"Look, would you want to see anyone you know, friend or enemy, get their mind pulped by something that could be treated in time?" asked Matt.

There was a pause before Morph asked, "Is this one of those trick questions I heard about?"

The other experiments had jumped though. "How long were you listening?" asked Chip carefully.

"Oh, for quite some time," said Matt, "These new ears can pick up the scurrying of mice in the walls. Or in this case, spiderbots in the walls." The experiments gulped at that as Matt decided to tease them a bit. "So...maybe being able to get the drop on you's worth the minor inconvenience of taking back my 'mostly human' card again?" he said, before it backfired.

"Aw, I always wanted a puppy. But everyone says I'm not good enough to have one," said Morph.

Matt twitched, his ears becoming pointed as he snapped, "I AM NOT A PUPPY!"

"Temper, temper," said Chip, "You really need to moderate your anger."

Matt snarled at that as Contrinus said warningly. "Guys?" as Matt got out the fish, now an impromptu stress toy and began squeezing it.

"Personally, I'm not seeing a lot of difference between dragon temper and Loboan temper," said Draco.

"Well, dragons don't make a mess on the carpet," said Chip.

"Guys...really..." said Contrinus, flying up to the ceiling and taking cover as Matt continued to squeeze the fish, its head inflating.

"Though I do worry if Matt will maintain his captain status," said Chip.

"You think he'll be unfit to command?" asked Draco.

"Mostly that Chris would obviously be the Alpha and Matt's kind of an Omega," said Chip.

The experiments all jumped at that as the fish popped before two Loboan paws shot out and grabbed all three, lifting them up to muzzle level as it formed, Matt snarling in a deep voice, "Care to repeat that?" giving all three a great view of Loboan dentistry.

"Did I say Omega? I meant Mega," said Chip.

"What's a Mega wolf?" asked Morph.

Matts reply was to sonic howl Morph into the wall. "He's definitely the Alpha," whimpered Draco as Contrinus called "I warned you." from the ceiling.

Morph slid off the wall and asked, "So when is he gonna challenge Chris? I wanna watch."

The other experiments watched as Matt stomped out at that. "Don't give him ideas," moaned Draco.

...

Meanwhile, Ben, Rook, and Kai had gone to check on Khyber themselves and made sure he didn't do anything to escape. "Ah, Ben Tennyson. I see you brought your partner and that treacherous slimeball with you," said Khyber, "And who is this young lady? Your mate?" He smirked as he saw the two humans do that blushing thing they did when embarrassed. "Oh, did I hit a nerve?" he said calmly as he ate the lunch he'd been given .

"Hey, I don't make fun of your girlfriends," said Ben.

"I prefer a different kind of hunt than pursuing mates," said Khyber, "Females make the males easier to trap. Mating season is when a beast is at its dimmest."

Kai glared at that, Rook and Ben noticing she was snarling and that her canines looked more pronounced as Khyber continued, either not noticing or caring . "You know, I would have expected the legendary Tennyson to have picked a more exotic mate. Perhaps some alien hybrid of some kind for variety's sake. But I suppose all you humans care about is how attractive your mates are," said Khyber.

Kai literally snarled at that, slamming her hands into the cell's energy field as her Loboan DNA began to activate from her anger .

Khyber raised an eyeridge at that. "Oh, a Loboan. Well, that changes everything," he said, "You know, I've always admired the Loboans. They're the top predators in their ecosystem, even taking down each other. I considered adding Loboan DNA to the Nemetrix, but that would have been too odd considering you have your own Loboan form. I suppose she really likes that one, doesn't she?"

"Miss Green. I think you need to calm down," said Rook carefully as Kai eyed Khyber angrily.

"Just give me five minutes with that jerk," growled Kai.

"As much as I'd like to see you kick his butt, I'm betting Khyber knows how to fight Loboans," said Ben, "And I'd rather not take the chance that he'll go Tyrannopede and swallow you whole."

Kai paused at that, seemingly finally noticing she'd shifted form. "Urgh…the sooner this is fixed..." she moaned sadly.

"Fixed? I think you'd make a perfect specimen of Loboan," said Khyber, "That fur would look lovely on my floor."

This prompted another snarl from Kai. Just then, Aria's voice said over the PA, "All hands prepare for hyperjump." There was a tingling at that, blue electricity running over the ship before there was a flash and the brief unpleasant feeling of being everywhere within a few thousand lightyears at once before the engines hyperjump corridor properly formed and it shot forward. When vision came back, almost everyone looked a little unwell, a feeling of their stomachs being left behind magnified a million times. Only Kai looked happy, a dazed content look on her snout.

"What's with her?" asked Ben as he struggled to keep his lunch in, if it was even in his stomach anymore.

Aria appeared at that. "It's my fault. The jump engine's a little unstable without the positronic board. Some species of canine have their pleasure centers stimulated by the energy," she said before setting off an alert siren in the room to snap Kai out of her happy place.

"Huh, wonder how Matt is right now," said Ben.

"I shall see to him momentarily," said Aria before glancing at Khyber and adding, "And might I suggest you not spend too much time with this...reprobate." Khyber opened his mouth to speak before the energy field went opaque. "I've read his file. He's a serial killing madman in my opinion who would have been shot years ago back in my time," she said icily, surprising Ben and Rook with her tone before Kai finally shook her head.

"Oh...that was weird," she said to herself .

"Seemed kinda fun," said Ben, "But not the kinda thing to do for a date."

"Oh dear, he's trying to be romantic," said Skurd, "I trying to recover from my nausea, thank you very much."

"You do not have a stomach," pointed out Rook, "You feed off of DNA."

"Even single-celled organisms can be sick," said Skurd.

Aria muttered to Rook with a smirk, "Maybe Blitzwolfer and Kai could have a date? At the rate Kala's annoying Matt, she'll be bitten before the end of the week and they can double date."

"I am not certain we should be encouraging them," said Rook.

"Then again, it's the best opportunity they'll have at courtship," said Skurd dryly.

"Oh sure, take courtship advice from the guy who does mitosis or whatever you Slimebiotes do," said Ben before saying to Kai, "I think I literally did leave my lunch back in Earth's orbit, wanna get something to eat?"

"There are 6 cafeterias in this section of the ship. Don't eat the meatloaf, it has a habit of moving and we only make it for prisoners and Morph. He likes it," said Aria sagely .

As the group went away, Khyber's voice called out mockingly, "She just might be a keeper, Tennyson. I'm sure you two will have cute little pups someday."

...

Meanwhile, on a backwater station near to the Nullspace entrance, the proper one, a bar sat. It was, to aim a cliché at it, was a hive of scum and villainy. It also did great cider.  
One of the patrons was a bounty hunter that was in a particularly sour mood. "I nearly had that weasel, but then he slipped a hold in the wall," grumbled Lucius, "I should have expected that, I should have planned ahead."

"Same again, Lucius?" asked the waitress, a Kineceleran .

"Yes, and make it quick," said Lucius.

"That never gets old," said the Kineceleran dryly.

Lucius checked his wrist comp at that, looking for any local contracts. "Ben, Ben, Ben...reject. I'm not an idiot," he muttered, rejecting several dozen underworld contract to kill Tennyson. Better ones then him had tried and failed, sometimes spectacularly. He carried on skipping before a private message appeared.

Lucius clicked on that option and a pale face appeared on his wrist comp. "Mr. Lucius, I assume you are currently unengaged in any standing contracts," said the face.

Lucius glared. "What business is it of yours?" he snapped, reaching for the disconnect. The way this person spoke annoyed him .

"Because I believe there's one whom you have an unsettled score with that I would appreciate disappearing,' said the face.

"Who? I have many enemies." said Lucius, pausing, part of him silently hoping this person didn't say the one name he didn't want to hear .

"One Matthew Lynch, who is in a vulnerable state at the moment," said the face.

"No. I have enough trouble just running afoul of him randomly. An attack on him is a death sentence. So unless he has somehow forgotten all the times we met then good day," said Lucius, reaching again .

"Perhaps I have not stated how he is so vulnerable now," said the face, "This version of Mr. Lynch is time-displaced, from the time period in which you had stripped him of his dragon powers. Considerably more vulnerable and if you eliminate him, the current Admiral Lynch would go out like a candle."

Lucius paused before smirking. "You don't say..." he said evilly .

"And to sweeten the deal, he's currently transporting your old hunting rival, Khyber," said the face.

"And a chance to kill that little show off too. I charge 500 mill for Lynch...and Khyber's a freebie," said Lucius evilly .

"I shall send you the coordinates. Better hurry if you want to catch them in time," said the face.

The line went dead at that, Lucius turned to the waitress. "Hold that drink, but contact some old friends. I'll need a hand with this," he said, remembering how...unpredictable Matt had been.

...

Matt, finally back to normal was in the cafeteria, glaring at the experiments and Kala, unknowingly munching on meatloaf which was squeaking. "It appears Loboans really can eat any meat," observed Contrinus.

"There's actual meat in that?" asked Draco with surprise.

"No idea. It ate the microscope when we tried to analyze it," said Kala grimly .

"And Morph eats that stuff?" asked Draco.

"Well..." said Kala, turning to look at Morph who was crossing blades with his own serving of meatloaf.

"We dull more kitchen knives that way," said Chip.

Matt absently whacked his own serving on the table as Kai came in, yawning and still as a Loboan. "Hey guys," she called cheerfully, walking over to the experiments .

"Hi Kai, nice fur coat," said Morph before the meatloaf disarmed him and tackled him.

Kai noticed the meatloaf at that and growled faintly before lunging at it, gobbling it down before she realized what she'd done. "Oh, sorry, Morph...tastes like chicken..." she said before pausing and picking out an antenna. "It's not chicken, is it?"  
Aria appeared at that, "No, I suppose I should say it's space weevil." Kai's face turned green through the fur and she rushed for the trash can. Aria smirked at that. "That'll teach her not to sharpen her claws on the walls as she walks," she said happily .

"She's a nice girl," said Contrinus, "I wonder why it took Ben and her so long to hook up?"

"Because she wanted to make a pet out of Blitzwolfer, or Benwolf as he was then called," said Chip.

"Oh yeah," said Draco, "Think we ought to dye her hair or OW!"

The last part was from when Kala grabbed him by the ear. "We're leaving Kai alone," she warned, glaring at Draco.

Kai meanwhile had wandered over to Matt, sitting down opposite him. "Everyone says you...put up with this for a long time," she said finally.

"I was only furry for only a few hours before I bit you at most," said Matt.

"No...I mean...suddenly being..." began Kai, hesitating as she spotted the verbal mine ahead.

"Not being entirely human?" finished Matt, looking up finally .

"Well, yeah," said Kai.

"It sucks. You got it good. You won't have to worry. My Earth has no extraterrestrial contact. I go home and this comes out, if I'm lucky, I'll be shot," said Matt bitterly.

"I suppose it must be hard losing your dragon form then getting a wolf form," said Kai.

"I wasn't that upset about losing my dragonhood," said Matt even more bitterly, "Yes, I was pretty vulnerable and there were a lot of villains who'd take a piece of me, but I would have been able to go home. That fin-faced bounty hunter actually did me a favor in shutting off my nanites. For the first time in almost as long as I can remember, I had a chance of going back home without the risk of being shipped to a lab and dissected. I would have had to hide the arm, but that would have been small potatoes compared to actually being home. And now the door's been slammed in my face again."

Everyone turned in shock as Matt swept the table clean in anger, his remaining meatloaf making a squeaking bid for freedom across the floor. "My life's over...AGAIN! With the added goddamn bonus that Loboans are on the Nullspace restricted list in my time," he snapped .

"Matt, it's not that impossible," said Kai, "It can be fixed if we just get that mirror."

Matt laughed and asked, "You really think it'll be easy? You think that Archon guy is just gonna wait for us to catch up with him? You think we can just say, 'Hi, can we borrow your mirror for a little bit and a cup of sugar while we're at it?' You think he'd just say 'Sure, here you go, would you like to stay for tea?' Does that sound even the least bit likely?!"

Kai shook her head at that before Matt continued. "The revenites were the most vicious monsters to ever inhabit Nullspace. The NSC and Combine have wars as least twice a decade and they _teamed up_ to beat these guys...and they almost didn't," he said darkly .

"He's just one guy," pointed out Draco.

"I faced one guy before, he nearly conquered a planet single handedly," said Matt, glaring at Draco

"But you got us now," said Morph cheerfully.

Matt just raised an eyebrow. "Really? You think you guys can make that big a difference?" he said disbelievingly.

"Now that's hurtful," said Contrinus.

"No, it's me being bitter," said Matt coldly, walking out of the cafeteria.

"Kala, maybe you should go cheer him up," said Contrinus.

"I'm not his callgirl," said Kala in an annoyed tone.

"Well, I guess it's up to me," said Morph pulling out a top hat and cane before tapdancing out of the cafeteria after Matt.

...

"You think just because Queen Tenebra is...not herself at the moment that we are common thugs?" said the black camouflaged trooper to Lucius.

"If we eliminate Lynch, Tenebra will back to her former power and perhaps stronger than before," said Lucius.

"You say this is the past Matt, when our glorious queen was aboard? Destroying her would eradicate us all," snapped the trooper.

"That's why we're going to use something you never heard off: finesse," said Lucius smugly .

"Are you saying we're not capable assassins?" demanded another trooper.

"Yes," said Lucius bluntly.

"Fine, I suppose you'll need a warp web to pull them out of hyperspace. It'll of course cost you. We need money like everyone else," said the trooper icily .

"I'll have money to burn after this," said Lucius.

"Fine, 2 squads shall meet you at the coordinates. Try to bring them back alive. They contain two of our remaining ascended," snapped the trooper, the line going dead .

Lucius shrugged and said, "Chances are they'll go poof if we win, so what would it matter?"

...

Mina meanwhile had not been enjoying her time on the crew. Matt, seemingly a little merrily, had stuck her with the most boring jobs he could find, ranging from tending the biosphere deck, though that wasn't too bad given it was basically a forest on the ship, even down to animals, to janitorial duty and the night watch on the command deck. She hadn't even been allowed to properly meet the ship's visitor, some tripe about time paradoxes being the reason which Mina knew perfectly well was ridiculous.

Tonight she was on clean-up in one of the hangers, her superior, in her head was a right 'ape'. "Mina, you finished with that spill?" called the aforementioned superior at that .

"Don't we have better things to clean it with?" asked Mina, "I'm pretty sure that rags and soap water aren't as efficient as other means."

"Real tools aren't for stowaways," snapped the engineer .

"Oh, come on!" snapped Mina, "Even I know that's a bunch of-"

"Any more lip and we'll be using that soap water to clean out your mouth," said the engineer.

Mina glared as the engineer walked off with a smirk. 'Jerk, bet my godfather wouldn't be happy to hear about this,' she thought . This wasn't the first time she's been belittled by lower members of the crew, whom seem to richly enjoy getting to boss around someone that was an even lower rank than she was. She was starting to feel like the girl in that one bedtime story. What was it, Cynderella?

"Huh, this is boring. Why can't something interesting happen? It's not like it's going to knock me off my feet," she muttered before the ship jerked violently, throwing everyone forward.

...

Alarms rang on every deck as the Novus Star was forcibly dragged out of hyperspace by a small satellite. Almost everyone was thrown off their feet, or in worse cases, over railings or into equipment. Anything not secured, despite weight was also tossed around. It was just what was needed for the trio of strike craft near the satellite.

...

"Report, what the hell was that?" called Matt into an intercom, having been thrown from his bunk.

"Would you believe the emergency brake was pulled?" asked Aria.

"Do we have one?" asked Matt.

"No, but something has literally stopped us in our tracks," said Aria.

"Commander, this is watch. We got three ships closing fast, looks like dropships...and a third ship matches that Lucius guy's ship," said a second voice, sounding panicky, "They're headed for Hanger 8. Intercoms are out down there, we can't warn them."  
Matt went pale, "Mina," he said weakly.

...

Mina groaned as she sat up. She whacked her head hard in the big lurch and it was throbbing so hard she thought it'd split in half. "What the hell did you do, stowaway?" snapped the engineer, staggering forward as the hanger team went to work dealing with damage

"Me? How could I possibly be responsible?" snapped Mina.

"I wouldn't put it past you." snapped the engineer as a drilling noise was heard from the hanger.

"If you want to blame someone, blame whoever's drilling," said Mina.

The two turned to see a hail of sparks from the door, the emergency shielding sealing it, but not before a canister rolled in. "BOMB!" yelled the engineer before running.

Mina yelped before the canister exploded in a rapidly expanding cloud of black smoke that seemed almost alive how it dived at everyone as it filled the room and out into the corridors

Mina coughed as the smoke stung her eyes and nostrils, but it didn't seem to do more than that. The smoke finally cleared, the coughing stopping though there was now snarling and some mad laughter...oh and alot of screaming as an automated message said, "Alert: A hostile nanite cloud has been detected on decks 3 through 6...these areas will seal in 30 seconds."

Mina had a nasty flash of Deja vu and knew she had to get out of there quick. "All unaffected personnel...proceed to safe zones..." said the voice calmly, Mina running into the corridor and freezing.

The effects on the crew was rapidly becoming apparent. The humans were bursting out of their uniforms as they grew scales, fangs, claws, wings, and tails. The last time Mina had seen this, she has been hiding from the rampaging beasts these people were about to become. Now she was seeing what they did to the unaffected; the splitters and the rarer human that didn't get a big enough dose.

She was froze in place till one of the ex-crew turned to look at her and hissed. It was at that point that she screamed.

...

Matt pushed his way into the command deck, which was hectic. "We got multiple breaches, unidentified troopers breaching everything below deck 11," said a technician .

"Has Khyber gotten loose too?" asked Matt.

"No. I sealed that section though some of the intruders are trying to cut their way through. Sir, I think they're using the Avalar virus," said Aria .

"What? How is that possible?" demanded Matt.

"Well, as you would recall, we are 6 years in the future," said Aria.

"Great, some moron weaponized a doomsday weapon. Tell me we have antidote or something," snapped Matt .

"Well, as you recall, there is a remedy for the virus and I do not believe we have any dragons onboard who will object to its human-only end result," said Aria.

"Neutralize that cloud, then I want teams ready to go in," said Matt, angrily, his eyes glowing before pausing, "Wait...did you say, below deck 11?"

"We are already trying to locate Ms. Lumina," said Aria.

"I'm more worried that Ben, Kai and rook and the experiments have their quarters on floor 10," said Matt .

"The virus only affects humans and dragons. The only human among them is Master Tennyson and chances are his Omnitrix will detected the incoming virus and transform him to prevent his being affected," said Aria.

"Get a team immunized and meet me down there. I'm going to evict some annoyances," snapped Matt.

...

Meanwhile, the experiments and Tennyson and co were trying to find their way through the corridors and work out what was going on. "Don't split up, that's how they pick you off one by one," said Morph.

Draco gulped. "I dunno what's more frightening, the mutants or the fact Morph's making good points," he said weakly .

"I am more concerned about what could have caused this," said Rook.

"He's right, infestations like this don't just happen without causes," said Chip.

Kai sniffed the air. "Smells nasty...like...rotten eggs," she said weakly before pausing as several black armored guards walked into view.

"There's three of them. Shoot to kill!" said their leader.

"Scatter!" shouted Draco.

"No, bad-" started Morph before his head was blown off. He regrew it and finished, "Idea."

Draco yelped as he had to dodge several rounds. "Why are they shooting at us?" he moaned .

"Does it matter at this time?" snapped Chip.

One of them was eyeing the others before tossing a smaller version of the canister from the hanger at Ben. Suddenly, the Omnitrix core popped up and Ben made no hesitation in hitting it. In a flash, he was Blitzwolfer and swatted the canister back at the intruders.

"Oh shi-" began the trooper before there was a blast of black smoke that flooded the corridor, the trooper screaming as the others wiped it away. Ben growled before trying the timeout so he could switch to XLR8 only for the Omnitrix to buzz.

"Warning, unknown nanite saturation at dangerous levels," said the Omnitrix, "Activating form lock until nanites are purged."

Ben said, "Uh oh," and pressed it again before a scaled form lunged at him, wearing what was left of the black armor.

"Killllll..." it hissed.

"Hey, back off," said Blitzwolfer before punching the creature in the face. The creature's head whipped back before it leaned back in, its muzzle looking a little longer at that before it roared in his face...and was sonic howled flying by Blitzwolfer.

"Impressive," said Chip, "Though I worry that form's gonna be enough to handle all of these things."

"Fear not, this is exactly what I'm here for," said Skurd before demonstrating by wrapping a slimy tendril around Blitzwolfer's left arm and turning it into a flaming mace.

The remaining troopers began firing at the group at that...right up until Kai pounced on them. The she-wolf's claws made very large holes in their armor and her strength was more than sufficient to send them flying. The survivors quickly ran for it, leaving an angry and snarling Kai who turned to look at them with the same expression, before shaking her head and coming to her senses

"Uh, wow, that was impressive," said Blitzwolfer. Kai gulped before shaking a bit. "Kai, you ok?" asked Blitzwolfer.

"I...I had no control, Ben..." said Kai weakly, shaking a bit.

"Well, if you're still worried about this when these marauders are dealt with, there are plenty of people here you can talk with," said Chip, "All three Lynches for instance."

On cue, the PA said, "Warning...warning...hostile nanite saturation detected. Atmo saturation at 32% and rising...all remaining personnel...activate emergency purge in environmental control."

...

Lucius watched from a vent as Kai had decimated the Dark Empire marauders. "Never mess with the female of the species," he muttered before continuing down the vent. If his memory served, this would lead to the brig and he had just the weaponry to deal with this spidery pests that would be guarding them too.

Line break

Khyber wasn't feeling any panic. It was rather amusing to watch his guards struggling against the intruders. He didn't think it likely someone would have come to rescue him and if it weren't for the fact that he actually needed to go be treated, he'd use this opportunity to escape. But someone appeared outside his cell that definitely confirmed he wasn't being rescued. "Lucius, it's been quite some time," said Khyber conversationally.

"Khyber, I cannot say how much I'm enjoying this moment. Didn't I warn you that working with that crab would result in your undoing? Or that the Tennyson kid was outside your weight class? You even lost your pet, unless she got vaporized." Lucius taunted .

"She ran off, the ungrateful mongrel," said Khyber, "No one appreciates the true art of the hunt anymore."

"Or she just got sick of your ego," said Lucius cockily .

"So, I don't suppose you're here to let me out for old time's sake," said Khyber.

"No, I'm here to put you out of my misery." said Lucius calmly, pressing in a code on the cell door, a voice saying "Enviromental override accepted...please enter second code to activate cell oxygen purge."  
"Goodbye, Khyber," said Lucius calmly before a bullet demolished the controls.

Lucius turned to see a familiar if younger face. "Captain Lynch, I was hoping for this opportunity," said Lucius.

"Lucius, I was hoping for a rematch. This time I have guns," said Matt cockily, aiming two SMG'S at Lucius who dodged to the side as Matt opened fire .

"No plasma powers I see. This will almost be too unsporting," said Lucius.

Khyber said, "Lucius, I know you hate me but you should know that-"

"If you want a more dignified death, I suggest you keep your mouth shut," snarled Lucius.

Khyber just smirked before whistling. Matt winced before snapping, "Cut it out!"

"Make me," said Khyber before whistling again.

Lucius smirked before punching Matt a few times and knocking him back against the wall and drawing his sword. "Maybe I will let you live, Khyber? You just made my day and changed my career for the better," he said aiming a blow as Khyber said. "Whoever said I was helping you?" as Matt, his hand transforming to Loboan form shot up and grabbed Lucius's wrist .

"Who do you think gave Tennyson's girlfriend her condition?" said Khyber smugly.

Lucius turned down to yelp as the now-transformed Matt lifted him up and threw him across the bay. "I never usually eat fish, but I think I can make an exception for you," growled Matt .

Lucius responded by splitting a large blot of acid ink at Matt. Matt dodged the attack, but it landed on the front of Khyber's cell. Lucius glared at Matt who growled. "You come into my ship, tried to kill my girl, I'll tear you to shreds!" he snapped, lunging at Lucius who barely dodged, nobody noticing the ink burning through the floor and to the circuitry controlling the cell door .

"You will cause me much misery in your future career," snarled Lucius, "And I am going to make sure that will never happen."

Matt's response was to leap over Lucius's attempted side slash, landing on his shoulders and sending him flying before attempting to punch him, Lucius rolling to the side and Matt's claw tearing through the floor . The weakened structure partially gave out under the force of Matt's blow. But not completely, it just buckled enough for it to trap Matt's arm in the floor. Matt growled and tried to pull free, but the metal held his arm too tightly and, rather unfortunately, it was his arm that was still flesh.

Lucius smirked at that, readying his blade. "Too easy," he smirked.

Matt winced as Lucius prepared to bring down his blade, but then a large sheet of metal hit Lucius. Lucius turned to see Khyber stepping out of his wrecked cell. "I don't have a high opinion of Captain Lynch, but I think his presence in history is significant enough to not want him prematurely dead," said Khyber.

Lucius scoffed and said, "You have no weapons, no pets, and no powers. You can't compete with me."

"Not quite, old friend," said Khyber, "I always have my honed skill. Also, your intrusion has made me rather...aggravated." With a flash of red light, Khyber swelled up into his Tyrannopede form and roared loudly.

Matt and Lucius stared at that before Lucius sprinted for the door. The Tyrannopede roared before charging after Lucius. "Yeah, go get that walking guppy," cheered Matt before starting in shock as Khyber effortlessly tore through the door frame that Lucius had ran through.  
He looked at his arm at that before going cross-eyed as he got a weird urge to gnaw it off. "Oh, please let that cure come soon," he growled to himself before pulling on his arm again.

...

"Hurry up! The sooner we have this ship under control, the sooner we can get out of here!" yelled the lead marauder, his team trying to open the environment sampler to empty their gas grenades into it

"I'm trying, but this stupid computer's not cooperating," snapped another marauder.

"Then get it to cooperate!" snapped the leader before turning to see several people come in. "Plumbers," he said darkly, before saying, "I'll deal with this."

The Revonnahgander held up a Plumber's badge and said, "You are under arrest for attempted hijacking, attempted murder, and illegal use of biological weapons. Surrender now or we shall have to use force."

"Oh dear, whatever will I do?" said the leader scathingly before looking at the experiments. "Chip Pelekai..." he said darkly, clicking a pair of handles off his belt and igniting two dark purple ion blades.

"Do I know you?" asked Chip.

"I don't suppose you do yet," said the figure with an evil tone before his form began to shift into an anthro draconic form.

"Ah, Shar-Virk, I thought something seemed familiar about these guys," said Draco.

"Now then, who's first?" sneered the Virk .

The group braced for battle when someone started shoving through the marauders. "Out of my way!" snapped Lucius as he pushed his way through the front, past the Shar-Virk, and towards the Plumbers.

Blitzwolfer grabbed him and said, "Where do you think you're going, Fishface?"  
Lucius gibbered, "It's coming! IT'S COMING!"

"What is?" asked Kai before a loud roar was heard. Everyone turned to see a big Tyrannopede lumbering towards them, roaring in a very carnivorous sort of way. There was that usual moment of silence before one of the troopers screamed and everyone scrambled to get out the way.

Of course, this only enticed the Tyrannopede to start pursuing them, shooting webbing from its horn.

One trooper sadly turned and tried to fight, vanishing with a 'nom' noise as the Tyrannopede swallowed him, ignoring the gunfire.

The marauders didn't require any more encouragement to flee, even though the Shar-Virk was trying to shadow blast the big predator. He eventually ducked aside and activated his comm. "Have you located our secondary target yet?" he demanded.  
"We got her but she's freaking out," said the voice of the second team, another voice in the background saying "You will come with us, you ma-" before the line went dead in conjunction with a terrified female scream.

The Shar-Virk swore loudly in draconic before a puff of hot air wafted over him. He looked behind him to see that the Tyrannopede was right over him. "Oh sh-" he began before the Tyrannopede chomped over his top half and shook him back and forth before going wide eyed and spitting him out.

The Tyrannopede gagged a bit before picking up a more appetizing scent. It quickly lumbered off to find its prey. The Tyrannopede immediately homed in on the male Loboan, a small part of his brain recognizing the symbol on its chest .

As the Tyrannopede charged towards Blitzwolfer, Lucius yelped, grabbed Blitzwolfer's collar, and yelled, "He's trying to eat me! Do something!"

"Hey, get your fins off me," said Blitzwolfer as he tried to push Lucius off. Neither of them noticed Lucius briefly grabbing the Omnitrix or its brief flash of yellow light.

"That is ENOUGH!" roared a voice, a black orb slamming into the Tyrannopede. The draconian stalked out of where he'd landed at that, his eyes glowing white .

The Tyrannopede turned and roared at the Shar-Virk only for another orb to hit him in the stomach. The Tyrannopede coughed and wheezed at that for suddenly throwing up the marauder it swallowed earlier. "I got eaten..." said the marauder weakly.

"Shut up!" scolded the Virk before sending one final blast that caused the Tyrannopede to make a whine and pass out. "Ok, now that's been dealt with," he snapped, looking around.

Just then, the PA announced, "Environmental lockdown is disengaged. Atmospheric recycling engaged."

The Virk stopped and scanned the dazed heroes before noticing a significant member was gone. "Chip!" he snapped before he noticed the others were surrounding him.

"This is your last chance to give up before things get ugly," said Blitzwolfer.

"I could say the same to you," said the Shar-Virk smugly .

"He's a shadow dragon, so keep a light on him and he won't be able to get away," said Draco.

"Got it," said Morph before turning into Topper and lighting up.

The reply was for the Virk to pull out a blaster that covered Morph in a gunk that rapidly hardened before aiming a spinning kick that caught Draco in the chest as he lunged . Rook shot a net ought of his Proto-Tool, but the Virk caught it and swung it around Kai as she lunged in.

A far door opened at that, several ship marines running in and firing, only to be killed as the Virk sent several spikes of shadows into them before he flipped over Blitzwolfer's lunge and kicked his back . Blitzwolfer shot fire out of his Heatblast mace at the Virk. The reply was for the Virk to vanish into the ground, appearing behind Blitzwolfer and spinning him into the path of another net .

"Skurd, I need Chromastone," said Ben.

"Just a moment," said Skurd before the Heatblast mace dissolved into goo and a Chromastone arm wielding a shield made of its crystalline material replaced it.

The Virk smirked at that, looking over at the struggling Kai and shifting into the shadows, reappearing at the door before aiming a thumb at the far 'wall. "Exterior door," he said smugly, hitting a button.

He was content to remain where he was when he was suddenly knocked off his feet by a sonic howl. Once his head stopped rattling, he looked up to see what looked like someone wearing Shar-Khan crystal armor. However, the muzzle of the armor was currently converted into a megaphone-like shape. The dark blue of the armor made it easy to deduce who was wearing it.  
"Scythe...or is it still Matt? I was never good at tenses," he taunted as the armored Loboan circled before being distracted as a voice said. "Priming hanger 3 doors...1 minute to breach."

"Normally, I'd ask who sent you, but I'm trying to avoid spoilers," said Matt.

"I come in service of our glorious dark queen...and money," said the Virk before lunging at Matt who was forced to dodge back from the storm of blade slashes. "If you beat me, I'll let you cancel the airlock cycle," he taunted .

"Oh, is that all it takes?" asked Matt before throwing a few orbs of solar plasma.

The Virk just smirked, dodging each shot easily. "Far too easy. Show me your A-game, Scythe," he laughed .

"Try and find me," said Matt before attempting to create several holographic copies to confuse the Virk. However, the holograms were very faded and did not last very long.

The Virk laughed and said, "Your armor does not restore all of your lost powers. The best they can emulate is the bluntest and less subtle abilities."

Matt glared at that before he received several blows to his chest and head, before being rammed into the wall. "I know every trick you ever did, you tau-" he began before going cross-eyed.

"Bet he didn't teach you that," taunted Kala before grabbing the Virk's tail and breaking it over her knee.

The Virk yelled in pain as his tail broke before gasping as Matt put his fist into the Virk's chest, knocking the wind out, before kneeing him under the chin to knock him out.

"Thanks for the backup," said Matt.

"Hey, I couldn't let my bushi bu get beaten up by this salamander," said Kala.

"I can always count on you to have my back," said Matt fondly.

Then the PA said, "10 seconds until breach."

The two looked at each other before scrambling for the control panel, both of them hitting the cancel button just in time. "Cycling...aborted," said the computer calmly, the door opening again .

Matt and Kala retracted their faceplates and gave a sigh of relief. "Well, I think that wraps up everything," said Kala. Just then, she was suddenly yanked upward and backward. She was able to swing herself around enough to see she was partially caught in the Tyrannopede's mouth before she started screaming. Matt immediately jumped up, trying to pull her back while snarling at the Tyrannopede .

Draco and Morph came around the corner just then. "Matt, the Virks are, oh, I see you're already busy," said Draco, noticing the situation.

"There's only one way to appease that big dino-bug," said Morph.

"No, Morph, please, not that," pleaded Draco.

"Sorry, but sacrifices must be made," said Morph before reaching inside himself and pulling out a huge side of mutton, "Here, Khyber, here boy, you hungry?" The Tyrannopede took one look at the beef and quickly dropped Kala in favor of the less crunchy meal.  
Kala just shook, a little zoned out as the Tyrannopede and Draco entered combat for, to them, that most important of things: mutton.

"He has to be fed," said Morph as he tried to get the mutton away from Draco. Khyber apparently solved it for everyone by swallowing all three, spitting Morph and Draco back out after a minute

Khyber gave a contented burp before shrinking back to his normal form, looking a bit woozy from his experience. Just then, Rook came around the corner, a handcuffed Lucius in tow. "Khyber, you are still under arrest," said Rook as he clipped another set of handcuffs onto Khyber.

"At least you got that wretched backstabber Goanna as well," said Khyber.

"My name is Lucius," hissed Lucius.

"So? What did I say?" asked Khyber, apparently not noticing his malapropism.

"You're all jerks," muttered Lucius.

Matt nodded. "Toss em in the same cell. The others might be damaged," he said evilly, adding, "And put..." stopping when he noticed the Virk had done a vanishing act .

"Maybe it is for the best," said Rook, "Their very presence could compromise your chronological stability."

"True, but this is the future," said Matt gloomily .

"Which they would change if they inflict any great damage to you or your crew," said Rook.

"So could everyone else," said Matt.

"How many of them would be a personal threat?" asked Rook.

"How long have you got for the list?" said Draco scathingly .

"Just get those two out of my sight and start assessing damage," snapped Matt.

"Ok," said Morph cheerfully, Matt snapping "NOT YOU!"

As soon as the two hunters were taken away, Matt turned to Kala and asked, "You ok?"

Kala stared a bit blankly before saying, "You saved me from that big centipede."

"Oh, it's not anything I wouldn't have done," said Matt before Kala gave him a kiss on his furry cheek.

"I take back every mean pet-related thing I've said about you and am going to say," she said happily.

"Including this?" said Matt before licking her face.

Kala spat and snapped, "Ew! Matt, my mouth was open and everything!" She stopped and repeated herself, "My mouth was open." Matt gave her a confused look. "Your tongue, covered in nanite-saturated saliva, was in my mouth!" snapped Kala.

Matt paused before his eyes started to twitch. Rook asked "Is the admiral ok?" before Draco screamed "EVERYBODY DOWN!"

Luckily the potential explosion was diffused as Kala pulled an extinguisher off the wall and clonked it over Matt's head, snapping with each clonk "I can't believe you did that, you smegging idiot!"

"It is possible that she has not contracted enough nanites for her to become infected," said Rook, "Chloe was bitten by Kai but she didn't change." Just then, there was a chomp and a lot of splitter cursing from Kala as Matt bit Kala's hand out of self-defense.

"Yeah, pretty sure she's infected now," said Draco.

This sadly resulted in Kala doubling the pain, Draco sighing and going over to the intercom. "Medic to Hanger 3, Kala's beating Matt to a greasy smear again."

"Is he at the dazed and gibbering stage now?" asked the bored voice on the other end.

Draco glanced over and said, "Yep."

Kala, having temporarily worked out her stress, went over to the intercom and said into it, "Somebody better find Mina, she must be terrified."

...

In a badly burnt corridor, was what was left of the second marauder team, reduced to burnt skeletons, black ash coating the walls and ceiling. In the middle of it, sat Mina, hugging her legs with a twitching expression.

"You were a good girl, Mina. No one would have blamed you for what you did. It was all in self-defense," said Mina, nervously to her own reflection on the wall.

Her expression changed suddenly, becoming crueler before she said, "Anyway, they would have hurt our godfather. Didn't you enjoy giving them what they deserved?"

"They were nasty and wicked," said Mina defensively, "Who knows what they would have done to me."

The other tone came back at that, "That's right. We gave them exactly what they deserved."

"But what about our friends? Shouldn't we go find them?" asked Mina.

"If they were looking for us they would have-" began the dark tone before a light shone on her.

"We found her," said a voice before a medic ran up .

Mina blinked and suddenly seemed to realize she was surrounded by ash and bone. The medics managed to grab her before she hurt herself as she screamed...

...

Matt walked calmly into the brig, past Khyber's cell. Despite his orders, Rook had gotten Lucius in a separate cell. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" asked the bounty hunter.

"You've caused me a lot of grief lately," said Matt darkly, "I might have been grateful for you removing my dragon side, but my new Loboan side's wanting some payback."

"Oh, I'm so scared. The NSC has rules for mercs now about treating prisoners fairly," sneered Lucius as Matt opened a control panel and began to push some buttons.

"Yeah...but I'm not from NSC now," he said darkly, a voice saying "Purge in one minute...clear all organics from cell."

"Wait, what are you doing?" demanded Lucius.

"You know, I've been threatening people with tossing them out the airlock for years and I've never done it," said Matt, "But I guess there's a first time for everything."

Lucius paled at that. "Hey, let's not do something you'll regret," he said desperately.

"I highly doubt I'm going to regret this," said Matt.

"Oh yes, you will," said a voice behind him. He turned to see Kala, whose eyebrows were a bit more bushy than usual.

The computer said, "Purge ready...please activate manual release to proceed." a hatch opening to reveal a lever.

"Kala, I'm finishing some business," said Matt darkly, reaching for the lever only for Kala to grab his wrist.

"Matt, don't. Draconus might not be in your head now, but you'll become something just as bad if you do this," said Kala.

Matt glared at Kala before pushing a few buttons, the computer saying, "Purge aborted…have a nice day." Lucius let out the breath he had been holding and slumped on his bunk.

"Make no mistakes, you're going to Kyros," snapped Matt, "Pretty sure you have old playmates there too."

Kala just put her hand on his shoulder, the two walking out, Matt pausing as Khyber said conversationally. "The Lynch I read about would have pulled that lever."

"Shouldn't believe everything you read," said Matt.

* * *

There's another chapter up finally and it's the first of a three-part chapter. We're engaging in some foreshadowing in this chapter, some of it relevant to later in the fic, some of it for further down the line. But there's gonna be plenty of Loboan madness in this three parts. Not so sure about how much time is going to pass between uploads. Chances are likely this is gonna upload once a week, but it may happen sooner than that. In the meantime, keep an eye out for them and please review.


	4. Mark of the Beast, pt 2

**Reticence Saga**

**The Aliens Within**

**Chapter 4: Mark of the Beast, pt. 2**

The Archon was not feeling pleased. He had heard about the Blaguana's failed attempt at assassinating Lynch. He wasn't surprised at all. In fact, he was expecting him to fail, the assassination simply being a decoy to buy the Archon some more time. But then he heard about a pair of females that Lynch had infected with his bite. This naturally caused the Archon worry. He just wanted to be left to his research, not to cause a plague.

"Analyze virus," he ordered, looking at some of the readings.

The computer processed the data before stating, "Viral program of nanite infestation, programmed to collect with bodily secretions in order to spread to other hosts."

"Dammit, this is not what I planned. Locate patients," the Archon ordered.

"All patients located on the temporally-displaced Novus Star," said the computer.

"Find the ship and plot intercept course. Prepare 3 units for deployment," said the Archon.

"Acknowledged," said the computer.

"Unlike the other races, we revenites clean up after ourselves," said the Archon, "And I'm not going to start leaving things unattended now."

...

Matt meanwhile was getting a plus and minus situation. The plus was that, thanks to Kala getting bit, the 'no contact' rule was rescinded. The bad news was she was _really_ angry with him and as such was almost permanently Loboan. So in a way, the 'no contact' rule was still in effect. It's just that the reason for maintaining it was to prevent Matt getting bitten or worse.

Matt however, was never one to take a hint, peering round a corner to Kala's room and asking, "Truce?" waving a hot dog. He received a snarl in response. "Now I know you're mad but you need to calm down," he said carefully, pulling the hot dog back, shrugging before swallowing it whole and pulling out a beef steak, again nicked from Draco's stash.

"Would a nice steak be an acceptable gift?" asked Matt before nearly yelping with pain as Kala's jaws snapped around steak and hand. He yelped as he was dragged in, Kala, in Loboan form, growling at him before pulling his hand out her snout and snatching the steak. "Well, if you're gonna behave like that, no steak for you," said Matt.

"Oh shut up. It's your fault I'm like this," snapped Kala.

"Oh, you can actually talk," said Matt, "Here I thought you'd lost your ability to speak."

Kala snapped at that, lunging at Matt and pinning him to the ground, Matt's fear causing his ears to start pointing. "You stupid idiot! You licked me, then you _bit me_...which I admit I might have earn by hitting you," she snapped, saying the last part calmly.

"Well excuse me for being friendly," said Matt.

"There's no cure without the mirror!" screamed Kala angrily, Matt yelping more as her claws dug into his shoulders.

"Kala, please retract claws," winced Matt.

Kala just glared before snapping "Why SHOULD I?" before Scout grabbed her from behind.

"Because you will regret it later if you cripple him," he said calmly.

"Yes, I need my shoulders," said Matt, wincing.

"Why should I? Let me go you..." snapped Kala before seeing Scout and getting little hearts in her eyes, Matt snapping "Again...really?"

"Er, Matt, I think you need to take control of your girlfriend," said Scout, backing up.

"How?" said Matt pointedly.

"Perhaps you should try using your Loboan charm," said Scout as he was running out of room to back up into.

"Charm? You do know who you're talking to, right?" said Matt.

"Just do it!" snapped Scout.

Matt nodded before saying "Inner wolf." over and over before opening his eyes to see he was still human.

"Matt, get your lazy tail in gear or Kala's gonna dump you for me!" snapped Scout.

Matt went bug-eyed at that, his mind slipping into the mad limbo of his imagination…

...

Scout was sitting in a big wingback armchair in a very comfortable-looking den. He was wearing civilian clothes which included a smoking jacket and a pair of glasses with which he was reading the newspaper in his hands.

Kala walked into the den, wearing a business suit that didn't look too bad even if she was a Loboan. "Honey, I'm heading off to work now," she said as she clipped her earrings on, "Gotta bring home the bacon and keep those stock marketers in line."

"Yes, dear," said Scout calmly.

"Just reminding you, we're having the Tennysons over for dinner this evening," said Kala, "Let's try and not make this into another dominance competition."

"Of course, dear," said Scout.

"And could you do a bit of dusting today? That old trophy is getting rather dirty," said Kala, looking up at Matt's head that was placed above the fireplace with his mouth wide open.

"I will, dear," said Scout.

"Alright, gotta be going. Love you," said Kala before kissing Scout on the cheek.

"Love you too, dear," said Scout as Kala went out.

A few seconds later, Matt turned to Scout and said, "Ok, she's gone. Can I get down now?"

"After I finish reading this newspaper," said Scout before turning the page, "Huh, there's going to be a big sale at Baumann's."

...

Later, Matt would think over that little daydream and realize how absolutely ridiculous it was. He'd then question the quality of the meat he had for breakfast. But at this moment, only one thing mattered: that he was about to lose Kala to another guy.

...

Scout and Kala watched as Matt seemed to stare into space for a couple of minutes, muttering nonsense to himself. "Hmm...maybe you took it a bit too far...and he's getting the shotgun," said Kala carefully, saying the last part with some urgency as Matt walked stiffly over to an emergency locker.

"YOU WON'T TURN ME INTO A TROPHY!" he snapped. The two of them yipped before running for it.

...

"Galvan flight control. This is Novus Star with 4+ patients for treatment. Requesting approach vector," said one of the crew.

"Please transmit verification data," came the reply.

"Roger that...data transmission. Please be aware, subject 1 is a criminal and will be accompanied by an armed escort," said the crewman as the ship decelerated, an angry yell heard on the intercom as everyone was staggered again.

"Confirmed, are the other patients also potentially dangerous?" came the reply.

"Only to each other," sighed the crewman, a security image showing Scout pursued by Matt, holding a plasma rifle.

"I see..." came the rather dry reply.

"Entering orbit, we should land soon as soon as the commander stops trying to assault a Plumber," said the crewman, cutting the channel just as the reply was "What the he-?"

...

Surprisingly, Matt's bout of frenzied rage hasn't triggered his Loboan nanites. Which made it a lot easier for Kala to hold him back. "Lemme at him...LET ME GO!" snapped Matt, laughing a little insanely, Scout peering closely.

"Hmm...I always thought the stories about NSC mercenaries being insane was made up," he said thoughtfully.

"ON TOP OF SPAGHEEEEEETTIIIIIII!" sang out Matt, causing both Kala and Scout to whine with pain and grab their ears. Matt grinned madly before taking another breath before a marine shot him with a tranq dart.

"Sorry, I should have warned you," moaned Kala, shaking her head to clear the headache.

"I would have thought his singing torture would have been legendary by now," said Chloe conversationally as she put another tranq dart in her rifle in case Matt woke up.

Scout nodded weakly before saying, "If anyone can cure you both though, they are down below us."

...

However, the one most able to cure them was also the one angriest at Matt at the moment. "Of all the most irresponsible actions!" snapped Azmuth, "You may have been unware of what would happen when you bit Kai and not in your right mind, but you should have known better than to have bitten Kala!" "She was bashing me repeatedly with a fire extinguisher." said Matt glumly

"And you couldn't have fended it off without having to bite her?" snapped Azmuth.

"It was an accident. I was concussed," said Matt gloomily.

"It could have been avoided in the first place if you had refrained from licking her," said Azmuth, "What were you thinking?"

"We were happy..." said Matt sadly.

Azmuth sighed and said, "I suppose I can't expect you to exert common sense all the time."

"Is there anything? A stopgap...anything?" said Matt, his voice getting desperate.

"Well, we can at least stop it from spreading any further," said Azmuth.

Matt paused at that, his self-preservation reminding him that these were Galvans so lord knows what their 'stopgap' would be but he was desperate. "Ok, what's the idea?" he asked.

"Oh, a simple nano-sterilization procedure," said Azmuth.

Matt's eyes went to pinpricks. "Nobody's sterilizing anything!" he snapped.

"Not that kind of sterilizing," said Azmuth, "I'm simply going to isolate the infection programming of your foreign nanites and switch it off."

Matt sighed with relief at that before stopping, "Ok, my life's never this easy...side effects?"

"It might take a bit to isolate the programming, but other than that, the old side effect would a period of desiccation," said Azmuth.

"Oh...oh goody," moaned Matt.

"In the meantime, do try to keep out of trouble," said Azmuth.

"It's not my fault that trouble always finds me," grumbled Matt. Azmuth rolled his eyes at that as Matt stalked out.

...

Kala sat glumly, gnawing on a steak as the door behind her opened. "Go away," she moaned.

"No time for family now?" asked Chloe as she came in.

"I'm not family yet. Would be nice if we were...mean I was married," groaned Kala, not looking up.

"I suppose it would," said Chloe, "But that'd mean you would have more of Matt to yourself."

Kala nodded happily before pausing as she saw a strange thing in the table's reflection before dodging as a blue blast hit the table, which turned into a melon. "What the hell?" Kala snapped, turning to see a hodgepodge of a creature.

"Maybe I'm being a tad too sentimental, but I don't want to lose my big brother to anyone," said the creature with Chloe's voice.

"Wait...Chloe?" she said in surprise, giving the creature a chance to lunge at her and wrap around her like a snake.

"Adopted," sneered the creature before sticking her claw _into_ Kala's head, the finger phasing through her forehead like a phantom. Kala's eyes crossed before they went into multicolored rings. "Ok, now then Kala, let's let out that inner animal," sneered the creature...

...

Matt walked towards the quarters that had been given to Scout. He had a small apology. From what he had pieced together, his future self was alot saner and had covered up his history of 'little moments'. He found that a bit hard to believe, but maybe marrying Kala tempered him down some.

He paused at the door before hitting the call button. "Scout? Scout, it's me. I'm unarmed," he called into the speaker.

"How do I know it's not a trick?" demanded Scout.

"You don't. I shouldn't have flipped out like that," said Matt glumly.

"Is that an apology?" asked Scout.

"Yes...yes I suppose it is. You did nothing but help me and Kai. I'm sorry I tried to shoot you," said Matt glumly.

A second later, Scout unlocked the door and said, "I suppose I would have been angry in those same circumstances."

Matt nodded and walked in, unclipping a hip flask that was for some reason that puzzled scout, made of wood. "A little apology, kr'ta," Matt said, pulling out two very small shot glasses.

"Wait, I heard about that stuff," said Scout, "Isn't it supposed to be poisonous to non-reptiles?"

"I had Aria dilute it. This is the dragon equivalent of shandy," said Matt cheerfully, pouring some which bubbled faintly.

"I'm not so sure it's safe," said Scout dubiously. Matt shrugged before taking his shot and coughing, his eyes spinning. "Uh, thanks, but no thanks," said Scout before he was about to pour out his glass.

"NOT ON THE FLOOR!" yelled Matt, surprising Scout to make him jerk his hand upwards, resulting in the kr'ta flying through the air, out the door, and onto a passing Morph. There was a sizzling noise before Morph popped. "Ok, point taken," groaned Matt.

"Yeah, how about I bring the drinks next time?" suggested Scout.

"What do Loboans drink to get drunk anyway?" asked Matt curiously.

"That is something I just can't tell you about," said Scout, "It's one of those things you gotta experience for yourself."

"I've drunk kr'ta as a human...and lived, try me," said Matt confidently.

...

"Ok, that, uh, was some pretty...stuff," said Matt a little incoherently. He and Scout had been using one of the ship's bar to whip up some authentic Luna Lobo refreshments. Matt looked at the glass in front of him, a black liquid in it before he took another gulp and shuddered. "Oh, that's good brain cell killer," he said dizzily.

"We don't...break this out on just any occasion," said Scout a bit loosely, "Usually before a big...big hunt or fight. Gets our blood going."

He turned before going wide eyed to see Matt apparently talking to an empty chair. "What's that, Mr. Flibble? Blow up Chris?" he was saying.

"Ok, Matt, you've had too much to drink," said Scout, trying to grab Matt's shoulder which somehow kept dodging him.

"Nonsense...I haven't even gotten to the army boots and penguin puppet stage yet," said Matt before the far door opened and Kala staggered in, looking even drunker. "Kala, pull up a stool and have some...some...what's this stuff called again?" asked Matt. Kala paused before staggering in their direction. "Kala, you've been nipping at the kr'ta, haven't you? Naughty girl," said Matt with a giggle. Kala's response was to growl weakly at that, scratching at her head with both hands.

"You ok?" asked Scout. Kala's response was to stop scratching and start snarling at that before slowly lifting her head to look at them. Matt and Scout weren't drunk enough to not notice the look of savage hostility in Kala's eyes.

"Uh, Kala, something wrong?" asked Matt. Kala's response was to slash him across the chest before she turned to snarl in a different, more interested tone at Scout.

"Uh, Matt, now would be a good time to change and draw her attention," said Scout. Matt however was slumped behind the bar, his feet in view, Kala turning to look at him before snarling hungrily and stalking towards him

Scout quickly tackled Kala before she could get close. The two of them went rolling, snarling and snapping at each other like real wolves. Matt groaned at that, coming too as he pulled himself upright to see the fight and his alcohol-addled brain getting the wrong idea, his mood-related roulette landing this time on rage, which in turn triggered his nanites, a Loboan Matt lunging at the two.

By good fortune, Kala was on top at the moment so Matt knocked her off, resulting in the two of them fighting as animals. Matt snarled. "And to think I was about to come to forgive you next!" he snapped before he headbutted Kala. Kala just snarled before she snapped her jaws around Matt's neck.

Matt yelled in pain before Scout grabbed her in a headlock from behind and tried to drag her free. Kala was not so easy to budge. She continued to gnaw at Matt's throat, trying to either cut off his air supply or tear open his jugular. Matt settled for punching her as hard as he could till she came loose.

Even so, Kala was not settled down, not by a long shot. Scout could barely keep her from leaping back at Matt. "What is the matter of you?" wheezed Matt when he got his voice back, but nothing came out of Kala's mouth except angry barking and frothing spit.

"She's…she's feral…I don't understand," said Scout, barely holding onto her before going 'oof' as Kala elbowed himand bounded for the door, howling before fleeing.

"Gotta...stop her..." wheezed Matt.

"You're not going after her until your neck is looked at," said Scout.

Matt pulled his way to an intercom and rasped, "Security...stop Kala...don't let her get to an escape pod...tranq...on sight." before falling on his face and groaning, "Ow."

Scout picked up Matt and said, "C'mon, we need to get you to the medbay."

The two staggered out to see, to their shock, Kala out cold and Chloe holding a tazer stick. "Don't worry, I got her," she said.

"Good...take her to medbay," rasped Matt.

Aria voiced up at that, "Belay that, take her to containment. In her current mind, if she got loose she could maul and infect half the medical staff."

"Putting a wild wolf in a cage is not gonna make her calm down," said Chloe.

"But it will prevent an outbreak of these nanites," snapped Aria.

"Your biome might be a better place," said Scout.

Aria nodded, "I'll tell the staff to evacuate it,"

"And Matt needs to see a doctor," said Scout.

"It's mostly a flesh wound. Some medi-nanites will patch that up in a jiffy," said Aria.

...

Meanwhile, a small ship was headed for the Novus Star. On board, the Archon looked at the bio-canister ready to go. "We are inside their sensor shadow, they cannot detect us," said the computer calmly.

"Good," said the Archon, "We must be swift while the window of opportunity is open."

"I am tracking the infected. They are approaching the ship's biome, but there is heavy security...unable to predict window of opportunity," said the computer.

"Hmm...I suppose we'll have to make our own windows," said the Archon.

"Not recommended at this moment," said the computer calmly.

"Then we wait for exactly the right moment," said the Archon.

"By your command." said the computer.

...

The command center had a small talk going on, the subject: Kala. "I don't believe for a second this happened natural," snapped Matt, still in Loboan form.

"Well, her resentment over the situation and her blaming Matt could have built up to a head," said Chip.

"Yeah, except Kala isn't the type to get completely bent out of shape over something," said Contrinus.

Chris nodded, "Yeah, she's way too levelheaded to lose it. I've got teams checking the footage from her quarters. Maybe we'll get lucky."

"Good, when I find out who pushed her over the edge," growled Matt, leaving deep claw marks on the table.

Scout said, "Easy, if you get too angry we'll have two in the biosphere."

Matt took several deep breaths to calm himself. "Ok, so what do we do now?" asked Matt, "Megan, you got some sort of wake-up spell or something to snap Kala out of it?"

"Uh, not really," said Kala, "Kala's not a true werewolf so there isn't much of an angle I can work on."

Matt turned to NegaMorph and said, "You, you got a psychic link or something with her. Can you get to her?"

"Even if I knew how it worked, I think it requires an intense emotional state or something," said NegaMorph, "And I don't think anyone here's a powerful enough psychic to drill through her feral mindset."

"Find a way, NegaMorph or I swear..." snapped Matt angrily.

"Actually, I can think of something that _might _work," said Scout.

"What? Out with it!" demanded Matt.

"It's an ancient rite we practice on Luna Lobo. Once every four generations, the young Loboans are not permitted to choose a mate among each other. Instead, they must go out into the wilds and catch a feral to be their mate. A feral Loboan is more dangerous than a civilized one, but they can be tamed by one who's proven themselves more dominate."

"That...sounds horrible," said Chris, sounding a little shocked at the idea.

"It is our way," said Scout, sounding a little offended.

"Every alien species has their own culture," pointed out Rook, "I myself try to keep some of the traditions of Revonnah, though not to as extreme an attempt as some may try."

"Fine...so how will this help Kala?" said Matt darkly.

"If Matt were to do the Mate Hunt and be able to overpower and dominate Kala, it might make her easier to bring out of her feral state," said Scout.

"And what would happen if he fail?" asked Draco.

"She'll eat him," said Scout.

"Eat me?" said Matt, all anger replaced with some nervousness.

"I thought Loboans were the apex predators on Luna Lobo," said Rook.

"We are," said Scout, "But the only thing that's higher up the food chain than a Loboan is a more feral Loboan."

"Oh...bollocks," said Matt weakly before NegaMorph, unable to resist said "Oh well, just hope they're wrong when they say some relationships are dog eat dog."

Matt snarled and chomped NegaMorph's head. "Matt, you're supposed to stop biting people!" snapped Chloe.

"That mirror thing couldn't make an Anur reflection for me, so I don't think I'll be getting his lycanthropy," said NegaMorph through one of his other mouths.

"Look on the bright side. Not even Chloe can get angry at you for this," said Techo cheerfully.

"Don't expect me to save your hide if you screw up," said Chloe indifferently.

Chris was shocked at that, "You're usually all over Matt if he even looks at Kala suggestively...and now you don't care?"

"He has to fix his own messes," said Chloe, "I can't be bailing him out every time he gets in over his head."

Matt whined gloomily at that before saying, "Ok, is there any preparation I need to do?"

"Quite a bit, actually," said Scout, "But I think we can skip the fasting and meditations."

"Ok, anything for Kala," said Matt glumly, surprising the others .

"Then we better get you ready," said Scout.

"Right, this _never_ leaves this ship!" snapped Matt.

"Never," said Techo innocently .

"Wouldn't dream of it," said NegaMorph. Naturally, Matt gave him his sternest glare. "Really, I'm being ho-" began NegaMorph before a sonic howl blasted him .

Matt turned back to Scout and said, "Ok, let's get this mumbo jumbo shaman thing over with."

...

The blastdoor leading into the biosphere deck sat in front of Matt. "So, I get no help...against Kala who will be trying to tear me apart and eat the remnants, right?" said Matt calmly .

"No help, no weapons, no tools," said Scout, "You have to do it with your bare hands."

"Can't I at least have some armor? Or proper clothes for that matter?" asked Matt, who was only wearing some tribal paint and a loincloth.

"Most Loboans would only be wearing the paint," said Scout, "And I wouldn't be surprised if Kala was wearing less."

"I wanna wear pants at least," said Matt stubbornly .

"Pants will only get in the way of your tracking," said Scout.

"I'll take the chance," said Matt darkly, typing the orders to his nanolathe on his wristcomp.

"Fine, but when you get them caught in some bush, don't say I didn't warn you," said Scout.

"I won't, I'll be busy screaming, some of the bushes in there are carnivorous," said Matt, nodding to the guard who typed in the door override .

"Never forget: Kala is a wild animal in mind now. She will not recognize you until you dominate her," said Scout.

"Sure, 50 thousand volts ought to do it," said Matt calmly, catching a tossed tesla rifle as the door shut.

Scout sighed and said, "Luck is not gonna be with him."

"That's why he has weapons," said the guard nonchalantly.

...

Matt looked around before aiming his tesla rifle around, trying to think of a way to attract Kala. "Hmm...might work," he said before howling loudly and cupping his ear. In the far distance, an answering howl was heard. "Bingo," said Matt calmly, heading into the undergrowth.

line break

Mina meanwhile was having a far better time, if only cause she had company her own anthro species. One of the survivors from the hanger team, called Lita. The two were stuck changing a booster on a Sabre. "Hear your godfather's gone into the biosphere," said Lita cheerfully, her anthro form that of another shadow dragoness .

"Oh, what for?" asked Mina.

"Subdue Kala apparently, something Scout said would work," said Lita before saying, "There's a pool going on, on if he'll be eaten or not."

"Eaten?!" squeaked Mina.

"According to Scout, that might happen," said Lita .

"But he's got backup, right?" asked Mina nervously.

"Nope, he's got a tesla rifle," said Lita calmly, finishing up before saying, "Gotta say, the strength's useful."

Mina didn't respond. Her mind was locked on the image of Matt walking through dark woods completely unprotected except for a gun which actually more like a hunting rifle than a tesla rifle. Lita flicked the side of her head at that "No more Jurassic Park for you," she scolded, getting an idea of what was being imagined .

Mina blinked before saying, "You sure we can't got and help him?'

"There's only one door in and out. Unless we're going through the vents and the spiderdrones live there," said Lita . Mina thought about it before Lita said, "Don't even start thinking about it. The spiderbots have left you alone so far because you're new."

"I'm not letting my godfather be eaten," snapped Mina stubbornly .

"Matt can take care of himself," said Lita.

"In what's basically the wild with what's basically a werewolf and only one weapon on him?" said Mina doubtfully.

Lita thought about it, "You're right. He's toast."

"We have to help him," said Mina.

"How? By also getting eaten? I don't wanna find out these scales aren't bite proof," said Lita .

"Hello, we're dragons. We have powers," said Mina.

"Yeah, on a ship full of breakable things and flammable stuff?" said Lita calmly .

"We're only going to the biome," said Mina.

"That's the flammable stuff," said Lita pointedly before sighing, "But if you insist, there should be an opening in sector 12."

"Thanks, Lita," said Mina.

...

"Archon, a gap in their security has been detected. Both primary infected are inside the ship's biosphere," said the computer calmly .

"Excellent, deploy the beasts," instructed the Archon.

"Yes, Archon...subjects D-15 and 24 prepared...firing pods," said the computer, two pods shooting at the distant Novus Star. "Recommend withdrawal...Galvan flight control will have detected the launches."

"Deploy the other three," said the Archon.

"Launching," said the computer, three more pods shooting out .

...

Matt peered through the bushes, feeling a little nervous, his worry having shifted him back. Matt had considered this a bonus, using it as an excuse to armor up for the time being. "Here, Kala, Kala, Kala," he called quietly . He was partly relieved to not receive a reply.

"Ok...so she's not aro-EAT LIGHTNING!" he said, screaming the last part and firing as a branch was heard snapping.

It turns out that Kala hadn't replied because she was too far away. Quite the contrary, she was watching Matt from up a tree. She was mainly curious about the strange, jumpy, lightning-spitting weirdo that was in, to her mind, her territory. Not to mention a part of her worried if this one was carrying some sort of madness disease that she could get from eating him.

That said, some things had to be done, so she tossed another stone down and watched as the weirdo vaporized another bush. There was nothing wrong with a little amusement. She wondered how many more times it'll shoot lightning until it ran out. She yelped before ducking as another random blast made her tree several inches shorter before giving a whine of relief as the blasts stopped.

She decided to find something that'll be less hazardous to her health, physical and mental, to hunt. She was about to turn to leave when the weirdo yelled "KALA! GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW AND BE TAZERED!"

The name seemed vaguely familiar to the feral Loboan, but she wasn't about to risk getting her hide being blown off just yet. A second later, a metal stick bounced off her head, knocking her out the tree.

...

"Useless tesla rifles, they hardly last any time at all," muttered Matt, not hearing the yelps and crash in the distance.

He was starting to regret not taking that flash-training course about wilderness survival. 'When am I ever gonna need it?' he said at the time. "If I get out of this, I actually do the flash training," muttered Matt, looking around before yelling "FREE DOG FOOD!"

When no reply came, unknowingly because Kala was semi-conscious, Matt said, "Ok, time for plan B: build a basic trap."

...

Said trap for once wasn't a pitfall, though Matt had tried that, only to find out there was only 5 feet down to the deck below. To that end he'd nicked some cables to try a snare instead. "Ok, this ought to be so simple, only a stupid monkey can screw this up," said Matt to himself as he tied the small tree down. This was news to Kala, who was watching with animalistic politeness from a vantage point above Matt.

"Ok, I just need a little bait now," muttered Matt, "Then when Kala grabs it..." He paused when he realized he wasn't sure how to set the trap to spring when Kala grabbed the bait. "Hmm...should test this," he muttered, stepping back before throwing a stick at the loop, to no reaction. "Oh...musta got it wrong," he said, walking over and kicking it, only to be slapped in the face and knocked flying as the tree sprang up.

"Ow...that hurt," winced Matt as he covered his smarting face. After a minute, he uncovered his face to see Kala snarling an inch from his nose. "Hmm," he said, covering his face again before uncovering it again. "Was afraid of that...AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" he said, screaming the last part .

He ran for it, only to trip and fall into that small pit that he had dug earlier. Kala stared down at him with a bemused look. "Hey, Lassie, go for help," said Matt in a dazed tone. Kala shrugged before turning and kicking some dirt on Matt's head before walking off.

...

"Look on the bright side, scout. He hasn't been eaten yet. Put you down for 30 creds on Kala?" said NegaMorph cheerfully, the security room having turned into an impromptu entertainment room .

"I have confidence in Matt yet," said Scout, "I am sure that he'll survive the night."

"Yeah, but are you confident about him trapping Kala?" asked NegaMorph.

"Not like that, he won't," said Scout, "Matt couldn't even set them up, let alone trap Kala with them."

"Ok...30 creds on Matt it is then," said NegaMorph, signing a book. It was a shame everyone was watching, otherwise they might have spotted Mina and Lita in a vent.

...

"Urgh...how much further?" moaned Lita, the group turning a corner in the vets .

"I thought you knew," said Mina.

"I thought you were leading?" said Lita weakly, the two looking at each other before they started panicking.

Little did they know that a dark presence was observing them. Something that although it may appear innocuous had the heart of a cold-blooded killer, not that it had an actual heart. Its fingers drummed with anticipation, ready to pounce and show all why it was such a big mistake for Megan to try and clone Matt's hand in the first place. But that's not important right now.

For the moment it wasn't too dangerous, content with just redirecting the vents every so often. Soon it would be finished toying with its prey and then...it would be pounced on by several spiderbots.

"Ok, calm down, there's a way out of here if we just think logistically," said Lita.

"What the heck does that mean?!" snapped Mina.

"It means that if we keep making left turns, we'll eventually find our way to someplace familiar,' said Lita.

Mina looked around before spotting a light down the tunnel she was sure hadn't been there before. "Or we could check that vent," she said calmly .

"We can try that," said Lita.

The two headed to the vent covering before sighing with relief, a field outside it, a confused rak'to hawk peering inside. "Aw, what a cute birdie," said Mina.

"Careful, they can easily peck your finger off," said Lita.

"Oh please, they can't be that ba-" began Mina before the bird chomped over her head and had a content look on its beak. Mina said in a muffled voice, "Point taken."

"You can still turn back and avoid getting into a heap of trouble," said Lita.

"No...get off!" snapped Mina, pulling the bird off which flew back a few feet and smirked, displaying its dentistry and saying in an imitation of Mina's voice "Get off, get off."

"Oh, didn't think they were that smart," said Mina.

"It doesn't take much brain to talk. Take Morph for example," said Lita.

"Good point," said Mina, the two walking out and walking along, the rak'to tilting its head before spreading its leathery wings and following . "So, you've gotten an ion staff, right?" asked Mina.

"No, I was an engineer, that stupid gas did this to me," said Lita, annoyed as they walked into the trees, before they both glared as the rak'to said from the tree tops, 'stupid gas.'

"But you do have some kind of weapon, right?" asked Mina.

"I got a tazer stick," said Lita calmly, adding, "Perfect for frying annoying rak'to hawks." before twitching as the hawk gave a rather creepy imitation of a roomful of laughter .

"And that would be useful for stopping a Loboan, right?" asked Mina.

"Well, if you managed to get it pointed at them before they knock you over. Unless they knock you out with their howl first," said Lita.

"So...we're basically just two extra meals for Kala?" said Mina in an annoyed tone.

"Don't worry, we have dragons powers," said Lita in a sarcastic tone.

"We're dead," said Mina, the hawk above them tweeting the funeral dirge for emphasis .

...

Meanwhile, in the only room nobody dared enter, Morph was looking for his piggy bank so he could join in NegaMorph's game .

"Oh where, oh where did my piggy bank go?" asked Morph as he looked around his room, "I know it's in here somewhere." After looking through his drawers, Morph wondered, "I wonder if it's under the bed." He looked under the bed with a flashlight. His flashlight passed over odd things, including what looked like a gorilla with slimy green skin, four tentacles where its arms should be, bulbous eyes on eyestalks, and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Then Morph reached under and grabbed his piggy bank. "There you are, you naughty little thing," he said.

Morph paused before peering back in. "Hey...you're not the usual monster," he said cheerfully, the monster looking a bit confused. Usually anything that saw it would be scared stiff...then it sensed the void in this creature's head before the words 'not the usual monster' filtered in and it slowly turned to see an amorphous blob growling at it.

"That's more like it," said Morph.

...

Matt, meanwhile, was back on Kala's trail. He was, by now, determined to do this in human form, seeing it, in his mad way, as a challenge. "I'll show them, I'll show them all," he chortled madly, "I don't need to do this silly Loboan hunting rite to bag Kala."

A snap beside him at that caused his already fragile mindset to lose it (again) and he vaporized half the treeline with another clip, leaving two terrified-looking anthro dragonesses in scorched engineer jumpsuits hugging each other, and for some reason, a rak'to hawk perched on one of their horns .

Matt blinked before saying, "Hey, I booked this place for the night. Get your own forest!"

"Please put the gun down," whimpered the smaller one, her voice snapping Matt out of it.

"Mina, what are you doing here?" snapped Matt, "You're supposed to be in engineering."

"We came to help you and YOU SHOT AT US!" snapped Mina, losing it .

"I'm supposed to do this alone," said Matt.

"Aren't you also supposed to do this without weapons or armor?" pointed out the other dragoness.

"SILENCE!" snapped Matt, noting the trio, hawk included, looked worried. "Hah...see? I am the commander here, I am the boss, I am the alpha dog, and she's right behind me, isn't she?" snapped Matt, saying the last part dully as a growl came from behind him .

"We can take her," said Mina.

"No, I'm doing this solo," said Matt before Kala chomped most of his head and started shaking him around. The girls winced at that before Matt was thrown into a tree.

Kala then turned and growled at the girls. "Uh, we can definitely take her, right?" asked Mina.

The girls growled in return before a sonic burst sent them flying . "Yeah, we can take her," said Lita dizzily.

...

Matt came too with a groan, looking around dizzily . It soon became clear that he had lost Kala yet again. And yet, he was puzzled as to why she didn't eat him while she had the chance.

He was about to head out when something chomped his ear. After some flailing, he finally had his hand around the neck of the rak'to hawk from earlier. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't make you bait or dinner," growled Matt.

The hawk tilted its head before saying in a gravelly version Kala's voice, "Two reptiles...prey for later."

"What?" snapped Matt before getting up and looking around for Mina and Lita.

The hawk continued, "Must take to den...hungry. Food or packmate."

Matt was a bit surprised that Kala was able to talk in her feral state, but he was more focused on what she said. "Ok, time to stop fooling around," he said to himself, "Clearly I don't have the training to capture Kala by myself. So I'm gonna have to rely on my instincts." With that, he tried to focus on the wolf inside him and bring it out.

If there was a sound effect for the following scene, it would have been a raspberry as nothing happened. "Goddammit!" snapped Matt.

The hawk squawked and said, "Loser."

Matt paused at that. "I beg your pardon? Wait, I'm talking to a predatory parrot," he said annoyed before looking down to see drag marks, following them .

The hawk flew after Matt and squawked, "Loser."

...

Meanwhile, there was other creatures loose in the forest. "The gro'lak's gone. Last I heard from it, it was under a bed," said a creature that actually _was_ a werewolf, one of the archons many acquisitions over the millennia.

"The Krylock disappeared too," said a shadowy shape, "Those things could never stay in one place for long."

"I saw some rak'tos...don't they eat Krylocks?" said a third one, looking a little undead.

...

Matt glared stomping along. For a few minutes he thought he'd lost the rak'to, before it had flown back, looking plump and burping contently. "Don't you have somebody else to annoy?" snapped Matt.

"Annoy, annoy, annoy...loser," said the rak'to happily before burping a green cloud out .

"Will you stop calling me-" snapped Matt before staggering as the scent of the rak'to's burp hit him. "Oh...dude...smells like a Krylock..." he moaned, covering his nose and mouth as the rak'to tweeted happily .

Matt's head start to swim a bit, making him wonder if rak'tos were venomous, which wouldn't surprise him in the least. The rak'to's voice seemed to echo into his addled brain, going "Loser" over and over and over, causing his eyes to cross as he staggered onwards .

"Will...you...shut...UUUUUP!?" snapped Matt, the last word coming out as a sonic howl which blew the dragon hawk away.

The hawk happily chirped, "We have a winner. Let's see if he beats it all on the bonus round." as Matt transformed, howling angrily and charging off in the direction of Kala .

...

The spectators in the security room were getting excited now that the hunt was finally starting to get interesting.

"Erm, shouldn't we do something?" asked Megan carefully

"This is supposed to be Matt's trial," said Scout.

"But Lumina and Lita are in there," said Megan.

"They weren't supposed to be," said Scout, "But at least they've given Matt a reason to stop wasting time and start doing this right."

"If Mina gets eaten, Matt's gonna kill you, ok?" said Chris calmly .

"Ms. Lumina is hardly in real danger," said Aria, "If need be, I can flood the biome with sleeping gas so they can be extracted."

"Good. Oh well, let's watch...the hell is that?" said Techo, sitting up as another cam switched to a quartet of creatures .

"Hmm...unknown, I do not have them listed in the biome records," said Aria.

"How could that be possible?" demanded Chris.

"Well, Mina was able to stowaway. Maybe Aria's not as observant as she thinks she is," said Megan.  
Aria's hologram glared at that, "Really? You volunteered to sleep in arctic temperatures?"

"Say what?" asked Megan.

Aria smirked as she said, "Either way, I can safely say that for now, this fun is over. I'm opening the sphere and sending in an assault team." Just then, several error messages flashed on the computer screens. "Hmm, it appears we have a bug in the system," said Aria, "A bug that doesn't want us to open the biome."

The picture immediately changed to that of the Archon, causing some comment. "I know this is inconvenient, but I will not let a nanoplague be my legacy. Cease interference and simply wait," he said .

"Nano-what?" asked Megan.

"He means a virus. He's treating the cap and Kala like plague carriers," said Techo angrily as the message repeated on a loop .

"But Azmuth has something to neutralize that," said Chris.

"You think that guy knows or cares?" asked Chloe darkly.

"No. Get Ben, we'll never get through the door in time. He might," said Techo .

"Ben's stuck in wolf mode, remember?" pointed out Megan.

"Skurd," said Chris calmly ,

"And need I remind you, Ms. Roph, that you and your 'uncle' have other means of entrance," said Aria.

NegaMorph spoke up at that, "Matt said he'd vaporize me if I messed about like that."

"Matt isn't capable of vaporizing you right now," pointed out Techo.

"Point taken. Come on, Megan. Let's go earn a pay rise," said NegaMorph cheerfully, Megan saying "You get paid?"

"Hey, I don't make all my money at the betting table. Which reminds me..." He turned to the others before yelling, "Bets are cancelled and no refunds!" vanishing into the floor just before the first blunt object was thrown .

...

Kala's trail was a lot easier to follow as a Loboan, her scent being quite prominent to Matt's nose. "Ok...she's around here somewhere," he muttered, headed through the undergrowth, towards a patch of trees .

He was almost there when he picked up another scent. After sniffing a bit more, he realized it was another wolf-like scent, but definitely not his or Kala's. He softly growled as his instincts told him, 'Rival, intruding on territory, trying to steal mate'.

Luckily, there was yet to be the instincts compatible with what was left of Matt's sanity. Sadly, Matt took a 'don't bother with questions or rules' approach to intruders so the result was the same anyway . Matt snarled and headed in the direction this new scent was leading. Fortunately or unfortunately, it was also heading in the same direction as Kala's scent.

...

Meanwhile, the werewolf was making his way towards where Kala was, but not for the reasons the Archon would have wanted. "Stupid...thing. Why have I gotta do what he wants? Like I'd kill a girl," he muttered. But he had other interests in pursuing the female, interests of a much baser nature. He wasn't the type of werewolf to be picky about breeding. This female was true werewolf, but it was close enough for him.

"Who knows? Maybe I can convince the Archon to let me keep her?" he said happily before pausing, looking up to see a reptilian bird whistling the funeral dirge. The werewolf gave in an annoyed look before heading forward. The female's den was close, her scent too strong to be anything else. A flutter of wings was heard before the bird began humming the Jaws theme tune this time.

The werewolf tossed a rock at the bird before it moved into the small clearing. The female had claimed a small cave for her own and the smell inside indicated that she was getting ready for dinner. It was clear she wasn't expecting dinner guests because she quickly came out of her den and growled at the intruder. The werewolf grinned, well, wolfishly before making a chuffing sound. The female paused and cocked her head with interest.

A second later, a depleted tesla rifle flew out the bushes and clonked the werewolf across the back of the head, "Bleagh," he managed, falling forward .

Matt quickly exited the bushes and approached his rival with a snarl. "Mine," he growled before administering a swift kick that would make sure that the werewolf wouldn't be making any moves on she-wolves any time soon. Then Matt turned to Kala and said, "Ok, let's get this nonsense over with. Kala, you're coming with me."  
The sonic blast that came back deposited Matt in a tree top several feet away, next to the hawk which made a sniggering noise. "Weak wolf," growled Kala.

Matt shook his head before snapping, "Ok, you want me to show I'm not weak? Fine. Prepare to be dominated!" With that, he took a flying leap out of the tree and right on top of Kala. The she-wolf started snapping and scratching at Matt as he was focused on wrestling her to the ground.

...

Mina and Lita meanwhile were having a glaring contest. It seemed a Loboan's first instinct on restraining people was to gag them. However the unsaid argument was this from both sides; 'it's your fault we're in this mess...no it's not...yes, it is...'

The argument ended when Matt shot past them with a howl and embedded in the wall. "Ok...1st point to you," he rasped . He pulled himself out of the wall before turning to the two captives. "I'll be with you in a minute. First I need to dominate my wild girlfriend," he said before going back out of the cave.  
Lita and Mina glared before a shadowy creature flowed in. The creature looked between the two of them before focusing on Lita. It collected its shadowy mass together before shifting into quite a different creature. It basically looked like a large red-brown hairy spider, except it had five legs that ended with particularly stubby feet. The creature growled as it advanced towards Lita, revealing a large mouth filled with several rows of sharp teeth.

Lita settled for screaming under her gag as the monster crept closer . The monster got closer, opening its mouth wider to reveal more fangs. But it didn't seem in that much of a rush to bite her. Rather, it seemed content in breathing in Lita's muffled screams.  
Mina struggled finally managing to chew her gag off before sending a fireball at the monster who shrieked and scuttled away . "Lita, are you alright?" asked Mina. Lita didn't respond, she just sat there staring at where the spider was numbly. But Mina noticed her chest rising and falling so she knew Lita was still alive. "Hang on, I'll have us out of here as soon as I get through these vine things," said Mina.  
The shadow reappeared at that, spinning in place before slowing down to be Ghoulwyrm. "Miiiinaaaa…" he said icily .

Mina froze in shock. "No...it can't be you. You're a fake," she said desperately.

"I'm quite real, my little dark creature," sneered 'Ghoulwyrm' .

"Keep away from me. I'm a lot stronger than last time," said Mina unconvincingly.

"You can't fight destiny," sneered 'Ghoulwyrm'.

Mina felt a cold shudder go through her and she looked at her hands, going pale when they appeared as bare bones to her. "Urr…urr…urrrr…" she began as she hyperventilated, seeing her face to see a skeletal skull with a blue glow behind it. It was at that point she started to scream.

...

Meanwhile, Matt had managed to wrestle Kala down and pinned her to the ground. "Alright Kala, I think I've proved my dominance by now," said Matt, "Now start acting like yourself or-" The two of them froze when they heard the sound of someone screaming. "Mina, oh man," said Matt before smacking Kala over the head with enough force to temporarily stun her. "Wait here," he said before heading back into the cave.

He skidded to a halt to see Mina, apparently held by her cheeks by a creature that was inhaling a blue energy from her, her face visibly aging as it did. Only one creature he knew did that...a kryteer. "Oi, asshole!" he called, tossing a rock at it, causing it to pause and turn to look . "You want a real meal, come and get me!" shouted Matt.

The creature growled before letting go of Mina and going after Matt. He quickly backed out of the cave and tried desperately to think of what the kryteer would most likely turn into to scare him and how to counter it. He didn't get very far out when Kala, who had recovered rather quickly, tackled him and snarled in his face. "Dammit, Kala, this is not the time!" snapped Matt before the kryteer came out. Kala turned and roared at the kryteer. It took one look at her before morphing into a Tyrannopede. Kala whimpered like a scared dog and backed away from the monster with her tail between her legs.

"Hey! It's me you want, tiny!" snapped Matt, the kryteer turning to look at him before changing...into Kala as a human. Matt lifted an eyebrow and asked, "Are you supposed to a future henpecking version of Kala? Because you're not that scary."

'Kala' just sneered. "Whatever did I see in a freak like you?" she said loftily . Matt winced and let out an involuntary canine whine as if 'Kala' had just hit him. "How you managed to stay alive when all you do is hurt everyone is beyond me." sneered the fake Kala nastily

Matt closed his eyes and covered his ears. "That's not Kala," he thought to himself, "That's an evil boggart that's playing mind games with you. Just ignore what it says and what it looks like and power on through."

The fake Kala smirked and walked up, whispering in his ear, "You don't even know that you're more alone then you even think...no girlfriend...no home...no sister..."

Matt let out a feral roar before snapping his teeth around the fake Kala's neck. He wasn't even putting any intelligent thought into it right now. He just let his inner beast take the wheel and deal with the threat. After a minute, he came to his senses to see the fake Kala, lying dead with a torn up throat.

Matt gave a sigh of relief and said, "Ok, it's over now." He turned to look for the real Kala, but didn't see any signs of her. He headed into the cave to see if she was in there, but stopped short when he saw what looked like Mina's body with her throat also torn out.  
Matt stared as his imagination went to work before coming to the completely wrong conclusion before the 'Mina' said "Why'd you kill me?" That was the final straw, Matt screaming feral.

Meanwhile, the real Kala had snuck out of her hiding places in the bushes to see if the Tyrannopede had gone. What she saw was a shadowy shape vaguely like the Tyrannopede looming over Matt who screaming in a most feral manner. Several basic thoughts went through her head: 'I don't like this thing', 'Nobody should have to suffer that', 'He managed to best me, he's the alpha', and just one small underlining thought from deep within 'That's my mate'. The sum of that giving her enough reason to snarl before leaping onto the shape's back and latching on with her claws and teeth.

The kryteer paused in its feasting to try and shake off Kala. It probably wouldn't have been too difficult if the other werewolf hadn't woken up and also jumped onto the kryteer to claw and bite it.

The kryteer howled before saying in a growling voice "You fool...what are you doing?" to the werewolf .

"I never liked you and I can't let a lady fight you all by herself," said the werewolf before biting in deeper.

"Then die..." said the kryteer simply, changing its skin to silver.

The werewolf screamed in pain before dropping off of the kryteer. Without him on its back, the kryteer was easily able to shake off Kala. He turned around, morphing into a silver Tyrannopede as it did so. It opened its mouth to devour them when a magnified voice suddenly said, "Attention big metal monster guy." The kryteer turned just in time to see Blitzwolfer with an Echo Echo megaphone before he blasted out a super-magnified sonic howl at it.  
The kryteer had just long enough to say "What in the-" before the sound blast all but vaporized it . There was a bit of collateral damage in that the woodlands behind the kryteer got cleared out for a distance. But fortunately, nobody else was really hurt, excepting the intense ringing in the lupines' ears.

After a minute Kala yelled "BEN, WHY'D YOU DO THAT?"

"Hey, you got your mind back. That's great," said Blitzwolfer.

"All the better to beat you senseless with!" snapped Kala before lunging at Blitzwolfer .

Matt staggered out of the entrance of the cave, his head swimming from the scare he had gotten and the sound blast that rattled his ears. As such, he wasn't operating on a very evolved level of thinking so when he saw Kala trying to throttle Blitzwolfer only one thing went through his head. "Mine!" he snarled before he leaped forward and knocked Kala off of Blitzwolfer.

...

"Ok...Matt...have you something to say to Ben?" said Scout, looking at the both badly bruised Loboans, Kala trying desperately not to laugh .

"Sorry I thought you were trying to steal my mate," grumbled Matt.

"And Ben?" said Scout.

Blitzwolfer muttered, "Sorry I sound blasted you into the bedrock after you jumped me."

"Did you guys really have to belt out so many howls?" asked NegaMorph, rubbing his forehead.

"You barely got blasted," said Kai dismissively.

"Oh no?" said Megan dryly.

...

10 minutes earlier...

"Ok, Kala'll be pretty hard to grab so be sure to shove shadow ropes on her the minute we appear," said NegaMorph, he and Megan in the shadow world. .

"I thought we were looking for those other monsters," said Megan.

"Trust me, Kala will be the most difficult one," said NegaMorph.

"Ok...1...2...3!" said Megan, the two emerging to see two Loboans beating the crap out of one another...and Kala on the sidelines facepawing and muttering about boys and idiots.

"Ok, slight change of plans, we just tie up Matt instead," said NegaMorph.

Kala looked over at that. "You're not tying up my mat...up Matt!" she said, stopping as she realized what she was gonna say.

"I don't know, he's looking pretty feral right now," said NegaMorph, "We better do it for everyone's sake."

Kala shrugged before yelling, "Matt...are you feral?"

"Oh, like he's gonna answer that. Come on, Megan, let's just tie him-" started NegaMorph before the struggling Loboans paused to sonic blast the two of them.

...

"I still can't hear right out my second ear." snapped NegaMorph, before 4 sonic blasts hit him.

"But what about this guy?" asked Chris, holding up the werewolf.

"Well, he didn't try to kill me and indirectly saved me, so I guess he's not a bad guy. But he still tried to sneak Kala from me so I don't like him a whole lot," said Matt, "Chris, what would you say would be the most pointless and degrading position on this ship?"

"Being your personal aide?" guessed Chris.

"Wrong, being _your_ personal aide," said Matt.

The two of them said "What?"

The werewolf turned to look at Chris. "I'm not working for some beta," he said loftily .

"Beta?" growled Chris.

"Yes," said the werewolf before yelping as he felt the ground lift away, before turning to be snout to snout with Chris .

"Say that again, shrimp," snarled Chris.

"Erm...when do you have dinner, sir?" said the werewolf desperately .

"Much better," said Chris, "It'll be 7:00 on the dot and I expect my beef to be properly prepared."  
Aria spoke up at that. "Sir, is it really wise to let a second werewolf loose on the ship?" she said .

"Eh, Chris could use the company," said Matt.

"But suppose this prompts Chris to start building a larger pack," said Aria.

"So long as he doesn't try to add Chloe to that pack or challenge me for leadership, I don't care," said Matt.

"As you wish, sir," said Aria with a sigh .

"What about the other monsters in the biome?" asked Kai.

"Eh, they're probably hopelessly lost and we can deal with them whenever we want," said Matt, "Aria, how are Mina and Lita?"

"Ensigns Lumina and Lita are still in a catatonic state," said Aria, "Victims of kryteer feeding could remain in that state for a considerable time. However, the hypersleep chamber ought to accelerate the recover process."

"So do it, Mina's my responsibility," said Matt.

"Very well, they ought to be recovered by the time we return to Earth," said Aria.

"Speaking of which, has Azmuth gotten that sterilizer thing ready yet?" asked Matt.

"Oh, for quite some time," said Aria, "You've simply been too busy with Ms. Triseptus to get the treatment."

Matt snapped at that and tried to tackle the holographic Aria.

...

"Information indicated operatives 4 and 2 have infiltrated the crew...subjects 5 and 3 have been eliminated...subject 1 is non responsive but active," said the Archon's computer .

"And what are the conditions of the infested?" asked the Archon.

"The Galvan have neutralized their nanites' infection programming," said the computer.

"Hmm...that's good for now. Unless a blood sample's taken, there should be no problems. Stand by to leave the system, inform 4 and 2 to send regular reports," said the Archon calmly

"And subject 1?" asked the computer.

"Low priority, but when opportunities are convenient, have it eliminated," said the Archon dismissively.

"By your command," said the computer calmly.

* * *

There's another chapter. This one had quite a bit of upheaval, but it all worked out in the end. This is not the only time that the Archon is going to bother the gang in this fic. There's gonna be plenty of other reasons to hate him before the gang have their big confrontation. The next chapter should be up next Friday. Keep an eye out for it and please review.


	5. Mark of the Beast, pt 3

**Reticence Saga**

**The Aliens Within**

**Chapter 5: Mark of the Beast, pt. 3**

_It was a starry night in a pine forest. The stars shown down enough light for the two she-wolves watch their pups play-fight with each other. The pups soon left off their nipping at each other when a new scent arrived. They all gave excited yips as they raced towards their fathers who were dragging back a big elk. The she-wolves also padded over to greet their mates. The red-furred one licked at the black-furred one's face while the brown one nuzzled the grey one. Just then, the full moon rose up into the sky. All the wolves lifted up their heads and howled at the large white orb. Then the moon spun around revealing a smiling four-eyed face. "Good morning," it said. _

Matt shot upright, sending Morph, who had been on his chest, flying through the door. "The hell was that?" he said, rubbing his head .

"You were oversleeping," said Morph, "Time for breakfast."

"Go away, Morph," said Kala sleepily.

"Oh well, more bacon for me," said Morph cheerfully .

"Beat it!" snapped Matt. Morph shrugged before going out the door.

"He's right. I don't wanna miss bacon," said Kala with a tired yawn .

"Fine," grumbled Matt before standing up and stretching his back. "Ugh, I get a new mattress or..." started Matt before pausing and saying, "Oh, wait, we didn't use the mattress last night."

...

For Ben and Kai, seeing the daily battleground that was breakfast on a ship with the experiments was an...experience. It was the first time, security and riot gear had to be present.

It turns out there was a reason the expression 'wolfing it down' was named that way. Namely because wolves had to eat as fast as they could before some other predator took their food away. Or in this case, if the food fight threatened to engulf their meal.

Chris, leaning back in his chair, said "Get used to it. This happens every Monday. That's the usual time when they crack the coconut cake fridge's entry code."

"What is it about coconut cake that makes them so..." Kai paused as she tried to think of a suitable word to describe the madness.

"I got no idea. It's like booze to them," said Chris .

"I thought that was the coffee," said Blitzwolfer.

"Nope, we don't allow coffee on board anymore," said Chris in a stern voice .

"Sounds like they'd try to smuggle some aboard," said Kai.

"Yep, we have to do a sweep every once in a while, though it's gonna be harder with a bigger ship," said Chris.

"This is a general announcement...command staff to bridge...command staff to bridge," said a voice on the intercom

"Need to be going," said Chris standing up before grabbing a piece of bacon that went flying past his ear.

...

"Ok, what's the big emergency?" said Chris, striding onto the bridge.

"Got a weak signal coming from the black hole in sector 19, looks like a ships emergency beacon," said a crewman.

"I'm guessing it's the more classic black hole, the kind that's not actually a wormhole," said Chris.

"Doesn't matter, if the ship's not got grav repulsers," said the crewman.

"How close are they to the event horizon?" asked Chris.

"Won't know till we get there. Should I set a course?" asked the crewman .

"Yeah, nobody deserves to be ground into micro-particles," said Chris before thinking it over and said, "Ok, not most people, but we can't judge just because they're in a tight spot."

"Aye-aye. Setting course," said the crewman.

...

The black hole was impressive, only visible because of the sun behind it and the disc around it. The victim ship was visible, flowing at the edge of the disc as the Novus Star, protected by its grav repulser shields, closed. "Let's pull it in quick," said Chris, "That ship's sinking in fast."

An energy beam shot out at that, snatching the small ship and pulling it further from the point of no return. A crewman, looking at his scanner, said, "Erm...sir? I'm reading Loboan lifesigns on board."

"Loboans, why are we always running into Loboans?" grumbled Chris. The crewmen gave him an odd look. "I'm not saying I don't like Loboans, but it gets old after a while," said Chris.

"Ig transmission from the ship," said the crewman, putting it on before a cultured voice said, "I don't know who you are but you have my thanks. We've been stuck around the black hole for hours."

"That is unlikely," said Aria, "Considering the model of the ship and the fact that a black hole's immeasurable gravity can distort time itself, it may have been much longer."

"I'm sure it's not been long. May me and my followers land?" said the voice .

"I'll have to check with the captain first," said Chris.

"Please hurry, I think we suffered some damage," said the voice before the line cut off .

"Matt is still having breakfast, right?" asked Chris.

"Yup, he never misses the weekly fight," said a crewman .

"Well, tell him about the situation, quick," said Chris.

...

"A ship full of werewolves?" said Matt, skeptically .

"Werewolf-like aliens," corrected Aria.

"Whatever. We're running out of space," snapped Matt .

"On the contrary, we have more than ample space. More space than we are likely to fill up," said Aria.

"We won't if we take on every hitchhiker between here and Earth," snapped Matt .

"Their ship is in bad disrepair," said Aria, "They will not be able to make it to the nearest system without our help."

"Fine, but I want to be there when this ship docks, with a full security team," said Matt .

"Don't you trust your own kind?" asked Chris jokingly.

Matt glared before slapping the back of Chris's head. "On this ship, with our track record, they're probably a cult," he said .

"What kind of cult would fly a spaceship?" asked Chris.

"Space cults," said Matt stubbornly .

"Well, we can't just kick them out into space," said Chris.

"Fine, but the guards stay," said Matt sulkily .

"I wouldn't have removed them anyways," said Aria, "We are compassionate, not reckless." She paused before examining the two of them and said, "Well, most of us."

Matt growled at that before stomping out. "He's losing it," said Chris darkly .

"His bond with Kala has been keeping him in check," said Aria, "But we need to purge his nanites as soon as possible. Once we've dropped off our passengers, we will devote all time and resources towards reclaiming that mirror."

"Ok, till then, we get those security teams down there," said Chris.

...

The shuttle, more of a small frigate, was gently set down on the hanger deck by the tractor emitters. Matt glared from the deck as the landing bay began to open. His lupine nose immediately picked up the scent of several Loboans, Loboans that smelled like they haven't had a bath for quite some time.

A dozen or so Loboans walked out, wearing what looked like robes, a slightly larger one with German Sheppard coloring also walked out behind them . "It's a cult, I knew it," muttered Matt.

The large one, apparently the leader looked up to see Matt's security forces. "Those are unnecessary, brother," he said calmly .

Matt gave the leader an annoyed look. "I am not your brother," he said.

"All Loboans are my family," said the leader sagely, Matt muttering "Great...if an evil cult wasn't enough, they're hippies too."

"Matt, be nice, they're probably a few years out of it," said Kala.

"This is indeed a wonderful opportunity. The Vladats will be easy to remove from our moon now," said the leader, noticing the various weapons everywhere .

"Sure..." said Matt before muttering, "What's a Vladat?"  
"The Vladats were a lifeform that ruled over the Anur system for centuries, enslaving the other races with unique parasitical lifeforms. They were slated for extermination as a potential threat by the then-active splitter empire, but the inhabitants got there first. Their old homeworld is a class Z, capable of draining the life from the crew of orbiting ships," said Aria calmly, the leader and his companions staring in shock as Aria materialized in front of them .

"Sounds like a nasty lot," said Matt, "How long ago where they wiped out?"

"About 10 centuries ago," said Aria dismissively, "I'm guessing you're not that interested in the particulars."

"But...when we left the homeworld they had just conquered it..." said the lead Loboan weakly .

"You stuck within the gravitational field of a black hole," said Aria, "Time and space itself are bent by the crushing power of black holes. It is not uncommon for one to exit the gravity field in a different time than they first entered."

Most of the Loboans looked horrified at that, Matt guessing some of them had probably left family behind. "What were you doing in that anyway?" he asked, nodding towards the ship .

"We are monks, sworn to preserve the culture of our race," said the leader, "When the Vladats invaded, we took this ship and fled so that some of our culture is not loss."

Matt was about to wipe some of the grime off before one of the Loboans grabbed his wrist with a snarl. "Please do not touch the ship," said the leader, "Considering how much damage it has taken, we would rather not risk someone accidentally breaking it further."  
"Damage it by wiping off some dirt? Nobody can manage that," snapped Matt, pointedly ignoring the sniggers his hearing picked up.

"All the same, we're not taking chances considering its delicate state," said the leader.

"It's fine," snapped Matt, hitting the side and being knocked out as a panel above him came loose and clocked him over the head .

"I did warn him," said the head monk, sounding a little bemused.

"So, where can we drop you off?" said Techo.

"If we could return to the Anur system, we would be greatly indebted to you," said the lead monk.

"Our course is currently set on Earth of the Sol system," said Aria, "The Anur system is a considerable distance out of our way so I'm sure you can understand if we don't bring you there immediately."

"Of course. That is...no problem. I have always wanted to see another world," said the leader, one of his followers muttering in his ear before he nodded, "Would it be too much to ask to have your fine blacksmiths repair our ship?"

"Our engineers shall be working on it presently," said Aria.

...

Matt wished that Scout hadn't remained behind, hoping to get a ride home. Otherwise, Matt could have inquired more n this 'cult'. Matt didn't believe that these Loboans were monks for one second. He saw the way some of them were looking at Kala. Ok, maybe they didn't have that particular vow, but they still rubbed Matt the wrong way.

One such problem was already trying...again. A Loboan with a blonde mane and for some reason had 'salvaged' some shades from some place in the ship. That said, Matt didn't mind that much given what usually followed.

"Hey there, foxy mama," said the Loboan, holding Kala in his arms, "How about I show you how to hear the call of the wild?"

"I'd do THIS!" snapped Kala, giving the luckless Loboan an uppercut that stuck him in the roof before he fell down on Matt's table.

"Yeah, she's into me," said the Loboan dizzily .

"I'd tell him that she's already taken, but I don't think it'll get through that hard head of his," said Matt, "Besides, this is more amusing."

The leader, apparently called Gralen, was talking to what was left of his flock. "Why are we pretending? We should take this ship and return home," snapped an underling.

"Do you not see how vastly outnumbered we are?" growled Gralen, "We do not have a chance of succeeding if we simply tried to take the ship. No, we must find a means to tip the balance in our favor."

"Do we have a plan?" said another one a little harshly before there was a knock.

All conversation halted before Gralen went to the door and opened it. "What do you want?" he growled before noticing there was a lovely female Loboan with black and brown fur there.

"Um, hi, my name's Kai," she said, "I was wondering if I could come in for a little bit."

"Oh, yes, yes, by all means, please do come in," said Gralen, suddenly a lot politer. All the Loboans' attention turned to Kai, more than a few tails wagging.

Gralen glared at them, making it clear that they were to be gentlemen...well, whatever the equivalent of gentlemen to Loboans were. "Our meetings is over," he said, pointedly at his followers, who filed out, the blonde one saying "Hey, sexy mama, maybe later-" before Gralen literally kicked him out.

"SHUT UP, BETA!" he snapped before he looked at Kai. "Now...how may I help you?"

"Well, I kinda need a few pointers on being a Loboan. And since the last Loboan guy disembarked, I was hoping you could help me out," said Kai.

"Wait? I don't understand. Have you not always been one?" said Gralen, now completely confused .

"Well, no, I got infected with nanites from this revenite mirror machine," said Kai, "Actually, not that directly. Matt got it from the machines but then he bit me and gave me nanites."

"Really? Is this machine on board?" asked Gralen, his mind already trying to make use of this information .

"I wish. Then we would have figured out how to fix this mess," said Kai.

"Oh. So, why would you consider turning back?" asked Gralen .

"Uh, because I have a life on Earth, where people tend to freak out about werewolves and won't give me time to explain that I'm not actually a werewolf," said Kai.

"Yes, of course," said Gralen quickly before adding almost automatically, "By the way, we're not werewolves."

"I know that, but I have to remind people every other time," said Kai with annoyance.

"Of course," said Gralen, before thinking, "Tell me, did they take blood?"

"Well, a little, they tried to isolate the nanites so they could find their shutdown command. Not that it did them any good," said Kai.

"Oh, and I suppose that blood is still in their apothecary's quarters?" said Gralen

Kai said, "You mean the medical bay?"

"Yes, that," said Gralen a bit dismissively.

"Yes, I suppose the blood's still there," said Kai, in a puzzled tone before Gralen put his claw around a weird stone around his neck.

"Could you look at me for a moment?" he asked, his eyes starting to glow.

"Uh, exactly what kind of monk...are...you..." said Kai, her voice slowing down as a blank look appeared in her eyes.

"That right dear...let it all out," smirked Gralen.

...

Matt meanwhile was trying to finally relax with Kala, the two watching any film they could find from the database. It was slightly spoiled due to Aria, in a rather mean prank, having only unlocked werewolf films.

"I'm getting pretty sick of all these werewolf clichés," said Matt.

"I know," said Kala, "After a certain point, they're just repeating themselves over and over again."

"Yeah, before you know it, somebody will be on a rampage. Oh, hey Kai. Apparently tonight's film is 'An American Werewolf in Paris'...again," said Matt absently as the door opened and Kai seemed to stagger in.

"Aria could have at least let us watching something more modern," said Kala, "I highly doubt that watching movies from 6 years in the future is gonna damage the timeline."

Matt nodded before noticing Kai had grabbed one of the popcorn bowls from the table and was chowing down, her face buried in it. "Erm...Kai?" he asked carefully . Kai snarled at Matt before she continued munching on the popcorn. It didn't take a genius to realize what was going on. "Oh boy, someone's going feral, again," said Matt, rolling his eyes.

"You wanna take care of this?" asked Kala.

"Me? I took care of it the last time. With you I might add," said Matt.

"Well I'm the one who's always having to take care of you when you go feral," said Kala.

"Fine, rock-paper-scissors for it?" suggested Matt. Kala glanced at her three-clawed hand with doubt. "It can still work," said Matt stubbornly.

A sonic blast sent the two flying, Matt groaning, "Sonic blast beats paper...SECURITY!"

The security team got in pretty quickly, evidently having been waiting for this. "Let me guess, Kala saw the full moon on the screen and went feral," joked one of them.

"I'm right here," growled Kala, "There's your feral she-wolf." She pointed at Kai who was growling at all of them.

"Ok, ma'am...eaaasy does it," said one of the marines, the group walking towards her, hands outstretched to grab her when they lunged .

"Shall we help them?" asked Kala.

"Just a sec, trying to pause the movie," said Matt. A thrown chair demolished the TV at that before Kai was seen running out into the corridor . "Ok, now it's gotten personal," growled Matt.

"You know the TV can be repaired easily," said Kala.

"It's a matter of principal now!" snapped Matt before running after Kai.

...

Blitzwolfer had also heard the call for security and arrived in time to see Kai run out the rec room, several marines in pursuit . Blitzwolfer sighed and said, "I should have guessed. Skurd, gonna need something to tie her up."

"Coming right up," said Skurd before creating some Wildvine tendrils.

Kai slid to a halt at that, her addled mind recognizing Blitzwolfer as 'mate' though the tendrils were not right. "Kai, calm down, don't make me have to fight," said Blitzwolfer. Kai began to growl at that, getting into a fighting stance, apparently recognizing those words .

Blitzwolfer sighed and said, "Looks like we're gonna be doing this the hard way." He swung one of the tendrils out which wrapped around Kai's arms. Kai snarled before biting down on the tendrils, tearing at them. The next tendril wrapped much of Kai's head, including her muzzle.

Matt and Kala ran out at that, Matt snapping, "Ok, I thought Scout said this couldn't happen."

"I don't know what's gotten into her," said Blitzwolfer, "Maybe it's just a-"

"Don't you say 'full moon'," growled Matt.

Blitzwolfer paused before saying, "Time of the month thing?"

"No, if it was, Kala'd be having the same problem," said Matt, Kala nodding before snapping "Hey!"

"Well, whatever it is, we need to get her to calm down," said Blitzwolfer.

Kai snarled angrily, trying to pull free again before Blitzwolfer grabbed her to try and hold her still while Matt tried to check her inhibitor, only to find it gone. "Aha, here's the problem," said Matt, "Someone took her inhibitor. Good thing we have a backup." He fumbled for the Lobo Unitrix on her neck.

There was a crackle of energy before Kai shifted back to human, her eyes spinning before she said dizzily, "Whu...where...?"

"I hope you haven't taken off your inhibitor because you were about to go swimming or take a shower," said Matt.

"Uh...I don't think so," said Kai.

"Good, because they're waterproof so I don't have to be mad at you for doing something stupid," said Matt.

"The last thing I remembered was going to talk to that Gralen guy," said Kai, shaking her head .

"Good, that's just who I was about to blame. Or that one who's been acting like the wrong kind of wolf," said Matt.

"You mean that idiot, Beta?" said Kala

"I believe 'beta' is just a rank," said Skurd.

"No, it's his actual name, his surname apparently," said Kala .

"Who cares?" snapped Matt, "I know one of those Loboans took that inhibitor and I'm gonna find out who before kicking them off my ship!"

The intercom buzzed at that. "Erm...sir? You'll wanna come down to the hanger...right now," said a nervous voice.

"Ah, proof to evict them, perfect," said Matt with a fierce grin that made the others uneasy.

...

The hanger had the guards back again, the frigate looking alot cleaner, when the gang arrived. "Ok, so what's the big deal?" asked Blitzwolfer, before one of the engineers said. "This ship, I think it's one of ours."

"What? How could that be possible?" asked Kala.

"Time dilation, we checked, the temporal stabilizer's shot to buggery. Anyone at the controls would have been at the system's mercy," said the engineer, pointing to a nameplate that said 'North Star 2' with an addition in Mattas handwriting saying "If you tried to steal this, you're already dead...JUST TRY IT!"

"Ok, that's plain eerie," said Matt, "I suppose my future self lent out one of his shuttles to somebody. Nobody would be dumb enough to steal it."

Chris said, "It's a North Star ship. We did give a ship away...get it open. Screw their privacy." The engineer nodded before getting to work. The lock opened easily to the response of familiar commands, but the door was a bit jammed by the damage the shuttle took.

"Ben, if you'd care to join in." said Matt, shifting to Loboan form and grabbing part of the door. Blitzwolfer sunk his claws around the door before heaving. The door soon cleared its blockage and swung out.

The inside of the ship had clearly been heavily modified, a second door beyond. This one however was clearly well maintained as it easily opened when Matt entered in his override, before Matt jumped back in apparent terror as a few wolf-shaped bracelets rolled out.

"What are these? Loboan artifacts?" asked Blitzwolfer.

"No...they're not. Get a hazmat team out here. No bare skin," Matt said angrily, hitting the lights to show a stasis booth at the far end. "Please don't be him," he muttered, hitting the control. The stasis booth opened with a slow hiss, mist pouring out of it. Matt was about to look inside when a white-furred fist punched him straight on the nose. Matt let out a canine yelp of pain before clutching his muzzle.

A lupine figure, wearing what looked like plate armor on his chest and holding a pretty big sword walked out the mist. "MONSTERS! INSULTS TO MY SPECIES!" it roared angrily . Matt yelped and backed away, his instincts currently at the helm. When the lupine figure advanced towards him, Matt dropped to the floor, revealing his belly in a submissive display.

The response was an impressive punt that sent him flying back out the ship and into the others. "I will teach you fools what happens when you hold a warrior of Asgard hostage!" snapped the creature . The troopers on guard quickly opened fire on the creature. But what few bullets weren't deflected with his sword bounced off his plate armor.

However, the shooting did cause the creature to pause. "Wait...I know these feeble weapons," he muttered, before spotting Techo. "Is it?" he said, backhanding a charging Chris, in his own werewolf form. He quickly approached Techo before saying in a low voice, "I'd call them off right now if I were you, Ignatius."

Techo yelped, memories coming back.

...

1 months...or 500 years ago if you are picky...

Matt facepalmed as he looked at the scene. "Ok...who had the bright idea to have a drinking contest against an Asgardian werewolf?" he said .

"I tried to warn him otherwise, but he just wouldn't listen. And how many times do I have to remind you that I'm not a werewolf?" said the wolf-man.

"Astrid might disagree," said Matt confidently, looking at a pair of feet underneath the table. "Chris or Techo?" he asked.

"That would be Ignatius," said the wolf-man, "Chris was part of it earlier, but I believe someone slipped something into his drink to make him run for the, what do you call it, bathroom."

"Oh, NegaMorph was taking part," said Matt, kicking Techo's foot who muttered "But I don't wanna go to school."

...

Techo shuddered before yelling, "HOLD YOUR FIRE, YOU MORONS!"

The troopers ceased fire, though Matt and Chris were still groaning. Thus it fell to Techo to say, "Hello, Fenris, you're looking pretty well for being stuck near a black hole for about a thousand years."

"Only a thousand this time?" smirked Fenris before he said darkly, "Now, where is the cur, Gralen?"

"I'm guessing you didn't invite him onto your ship," said Techo.

"I came to his world by accident. You programmed the ship as I wished: to find injustice. The creatures Gralen faced...these...Vladats, were such. I came to their aid. But Gralen is obsessed with his race's purity and spreading it around. He tried to use the stones on his allies and failed. I tried to stop him..." said Fenris, his voice stopping as he hung his head, "They were too numerous. They overpowered me and placed me in that booth. I presume their allies drove them from their world."

Just then, Matt sat up and shouted, "I knew it! I knew those guys were a cult! I tried to warn you but you didn't listen! I knew it!"

There was an almost universal "SHUT UP!" from everyone .

Fenris lifted an eyebrow and asked, "Is that Matt?"

"Long story, we'll fill you in later once we've gotten rid of these cultists," said Techo.

"You hit me...why you hit me?" groaned Matt dizzily as Fenris helped him up .

"I thought you were one of those Loboans," said Fenris before prying at Matt's muzzle and making it open sideways, "Wait, you are a Loboan. How did they do this to you?"

"They didn't...was a piece of tech we ran across by accident," said Matt, after he had slapped Fenris's hand away

"Do you still have this tech here?" asked Fenris.

"If we had, I wouldn't look like this," said Matt grumpily.

Fenris gave a sigh of relief, "So those cultists won't be able to inflict this on any others."

"Wait, what? Start from the beginning..." said Matt, confused.

Fenris sighed, "Their leader is a madman who sees his race as the perfect lifeform...and that it should be spread as far as possible."

"Oh, and I bet he tried using your wolf stones to do so," said Matt.

"Yes, but he couldn't bend them to match his race," said Fenris.

"Ok...oh smeg," said Matt, running over to the intercom, "Captain Andrews, get a full squad down to the medical deck, lock it down, especially blood plasma storage."

"Why would your blood storage be a concern?" asked Fenris.

"Because mine, Kala's and Kais bites _can_ pass it on...and so can our blood," said Matt in horror .

Fenris looked grim and said, "If those cultists are able to figure out how to spread this disease around, they could become a very serious threat."

The com buzzed again. "Sir. Andrews here, the med bay's a mess. 6 men down, multiple injuries and the blood bank's cleaned out," said Andrews's voice .

"Please tell me you at least didn't label the blood in languages they could read," said Fenris.

"No, all in binary. Chip and Aria control storage," said Matt .

Fenris gave a sigh of relief, "Then they'll have to sort through the blood until they can find the ones they need. That should give us some time."

Matt nodded, "Aria, all bulletin alert. Find that cultist and his buddies and toss them in the brig. They resist? Shoot em."

"Right away, captain," said Aria.

...

Gralen snarled as he heard the announcement go out. "We are exposed. Have you found the right blood yet?" he snarled .

"How are we supposed to know?" asked one of the cultists.

"Keep checking them!" snapped Gralen .

"But they all look the same," protested another acolyte.

"Then start tasting them!" snapped Gralen.

One of the cultists gulped, before opening one of the canisters and taking a hesitant lick, before screaming, clutching his throat. The other cultists quickly stepped away from him, especially when his fur started to fall out. The luckless cultist's skin quickly was covered with red scales, his muzzle joining up into a normal one, filling with fangs as a pair of horns grew out his head and his tail became serpentine before he stopped screaming, instead laughing. "Fresh MEAT!" he roared, lunging at Gralen and being liquidated by the leader's sonic blast .

The cultists stared at the messy remains before one of them, "Definitely not that blood."

"Keep checking!" snapped Gralen before sniffing the air. "Trouble," he said, heading for the door to their hiding place. He hid beside the door and waited a few seconds.

Then the door opened and Kai walked in, followed by another Loboan in a green outfit. "I think we're getting pretty close," said Kai.

Gralen glared before silently closing the door behind them. "Sister Kai, did my chat help you?" he said out loud .

Kai and the Loboan spun around and snarled. "You messed with my mind, you sorry excuse for a monk," growled Kai.

"No, I enlightened you," said Gralen, sounding hurt, but still smirking in a worrying way.

"You have some nerve messing with my girl," snarled Blitzwolfer.

"Oh, I won't leave you out," said Gralen, his eyes starting to glow, Kai starting to zone out a little.

"Hey, cut...that...out..." said Blitzwolfer though his voice slowed down.

"That's right...begin to think...purely..." said Gralen, the two Loboans' eyes starting to glow like his were. Quite soon, they were bowing in front of Gralen.

Quite fortunately, Gralen didn't pay any attention to the green slime on Blitzwolfer, thinking it was simply some unimportant infection. And Skurd was smart enough to avoid letting his head be seen and be quiet.

"Very good. Now then, you can stand up now," said Gralen, apparently satisfied . Kai and Blitzwolfer obeyed immediately. "Now then, Miss Kai, kindly show us which of these container hold your blood," said Gralen.

Kai bowed at that, walking into the room to the shock of the other cultists and picking out a single bottle. "Excellent," said Gralen.

"There is more," said Kai before holding up two more bottles.

"Even better," said Gralen, clapping his hands together. "You will make a...beautiful addition," he said, before snarling as Blitzwolfer also growled .

"She's mine," growled Blitzwolfer.

"I am your alpha," growled Gralen, his eyes glowing again. Blitzwolfer winced at that before slowly going down into a bow again.

"Master, how are we supposed to spread this around?" asked one of the cultists.

"We will find a way. The galaxy will provide. Until then, we are leaving this place. We head for our ship," said Gralen calmly .

"That ship barely held together the last time," said another cultist.

"But now it is repaired by these humans," said Gralen smugly .

"But what if they already found the Asgardian?" asked that cultist.

An angry howl was heard at that. "It doesn't matter. His stones were useless anyway," said Gralen quickly .

"But the Asgardian was not easy to subdue," said another cultist.

"He has no powers besides his tooth and claw. We are many. We can defeat him and any others who stand in our way," said Gralen.

Blitzwolfer's chest symbol lit up at that. "Ben...Ben, report in. Have you found those morons?" snapped Matt's voice, the gravelly tone indicating he was still stuck as a Loboan .

Gralen gave Blitzwolfer a glowing look before Blitzwolfer said, "Not yet."

There was some hesitation at that...

...

Matt looked at the others. "He sounds half asleep," he whispered to the others, covering his headset's mic.

"Remember, Gralen's the guy who sent Kai on a rampage," said Kala.

Matt nodded, before Chris said evilly, "Let me try," before taking the headset, "Hey Ben, when we get back to earth, let's get some of your grandpa's cooking? That sound good?"

"Sure, I'm feeling hungry," said Blitzwolfer's reply.

Matt and the others exchanged a look. "Hey, Ben, where are you?" he asked, programming some spiderbot orders in.

"Gotta go," said Blitzwolfer before hanging up.

"I have him. Deck 34, cargo bay 12," said Aria.

Matt stood up. "Fine, let's go wolf hunting," he snapped.

...

Gralen and his followers walked down a corridor, ignoring the fact that most of the doors leading off their path had been sealed. All Gralen cared was that the path to the ship was open. The tunnels finally opened into the main hanger. "Finally. Beta, go power the ship up for launch," he ordered, seemingly not noticing the metallic spider slowly getting ready to pounce.

The spiderbot gave an anticipated wiggle before leaping out at Gralen. The Loboan effortlessly turned and speared the spiderbot while it was in the air with his claws. He slammed the mechanical arachnid against the floor before ripping its head sensors off. "Huh, shoddy craftsmanship," he said.

The rest of the cult laughed in agreement, before one screamed as several spiderbots jumped on him and began to repeatedly stab him. The others turned to see dozens more spiderbots, slightly bigger ones with guns mounted on top, scuttling out of every crevice, making angry hisses.

Gralen quickly ran for the shuttle. So long as he survived and he had the blood, the quest will go on. A few of the cult, Kai included managed to break off, helped that the spiderbots were ignoring her in their wholesale and fatal vengeance, as the shuttle began to take off. Gralen, however, held up his paw to stop Blitzwolfer getting on, spotting the crew of the Novus Star running in. "No, stop them following," he ordered.

Blitzwolfer snarled before running back towards the troopers. Skurd sighed and said, "Ok, this has gone far long enough." He inflated his head until an Echo Echo mouth appeared and he started emitting a very high-pitched frequency.

The remaining cultists, Blitzwolfer, Matt, Chris, and Kala all yelled in pain, grabbing their heads, the spiderbots pausing as they stopped fighting. One of the cultists said weakly, "Hey...where am...MONSTERS!" he screamed, seeing the humans around him, the others joining in the panic.

Skurd shrank back to his normal size and said, "Well, I think now everyone is thinking like they ought to be again."

Gralen glared, before yelling to his remaining cult, the ones aboard the shuttle and therefore safe from Skurd's little trick, to take off, the ship echoing with retreated clanks as the crew fired at the escaping ship . The ship quickly sped for the exit, the hangar doors unfortunately still open and the force shield, meant to keep the atmosphere inside, didn't stop it from going out.

Blitzwolfer groaned however before, finally, his Omnitrix began the timeout beep for the first time in nearly a week. "Nanite infestation purged, disabling lifeform lock," said the Omnitrix.

Ben groaned, rubbing his forehead before saying, "Alright...what's..." before coughing, realizing he had talked like Blitzwolfer's mode of speech for a second.

"For once, it's actually good to see that rather humdrum face of yours," said Skurd.

Ben nodded. "It's good to be back. That was getting weird. How did he..." he began before Fenris, snapped "My medallion, I got it when I returned to Asgard to restock. It was to help me snap stone users who had gone feral back to their senses."

"And you didn't mention that to us before?" snapped Matt.

"I didn't realize it was gone. A mere mortal cannot usually control its magic," snapped Fenris.

"You were placed out of time for a thousand years!" snapped Chris, "The humans have gotten a lot more advanced since then. Plus, you're actually in a separate universe where there are hundreds of races that are even further ahead. Wake up, Fido, you're not top dog around here!"

Fenris snarled at that. "Are you not the one who gave one of my wolf stones to a youngling?" he snapped, only to yelp as Matt lost patience and punched him on the snout .

"Don't think you Asgardians are so far above reproach," said Matt, "Check out any Norse mythology book and you'll find at least half a dozen tales of you guys screwing over mortals for kicks."

"Are you sure you're not thinking of Greek mythology?" asked Kala.

"Are these guys any better?" snapped Matt.

"We met, Circe, they're no better," whispered Techo to Ben .

"Point is, you Asgardians screw up plenty of times and leave the mortals to pick up after you. You, so far, are the only one I've met who tries to clean up after himself," said Matt, "And finally, there _is_ no Asgard here. You're on our turf now."

Fenris growled, seemingly about to attack Matt, as several marines aimed at him before Fenris said, "You have my apologies."

"Can I hear that again for posterity's sake?" asked Matt only for Fenris to growl at him again.

"Don't push your luck," said Fenris, "We have greater things to worry about."

"Yeah...AFTER THAT DAMN SHIP!" yelled Matt .

"Might I suggest using a smaller and faster vessel?" said Aria.

"With what? The North Star 2 was destroyed, remember?" snapped Matt .

"Have you forgotten the nickname of this vessel? The fleet in a box?" pointed out Aria.

Matt paused...before smirking "Prep a frigate, have the Novus Star behind us," he said .

"Will do, sir," said Aria.

...

24 hours later...

The frigate 'Black Dragon' shot through hyperspace, Matt on the bridge, in human form. "How much longer?" he said.

"Shouldn't be too long," said a crewmember, "Their shuttle hasn't moved anywhere for quite a long time."

"Maybe they ran out of gas," suggested Ben.

"Incoming transmission...NSC emergency band," said the monotone voice of the computer.

On cue a female voice said panicky, "This is Avus VI colony on all bands...we have a Sy-Yong class 6 infection...colony's entering lockdown but defense teams have been overwhelmed...God, is someone out there?"

Matt was a bit hesitant to respond. For all he knew, the civil war was still going on. But he couldn't ignore something as urgent at this. "This is NSS Black dragon, 4 minutes out, what's your name?" he asked, as kindly as he could.

"This is Delores Sanchez, please tell me you're close to my position," said the voice pleadingly.

"We're three minutes out," said Techo quietly.

Matt frowned, hearing the constant clanks and howls in the background. "We're heading to you as fast as we can go. Where are you?" he asked.  
"I'm in the command center...I can't see anyone else on the camera. They just...poured out of the shuttle when it landed, attacked anyone and mutated them...smegging Loboans," said Delores starting to freak out.

"Hey, stay with me. Sure you secure?" said Matt sternly .

"I've got every door I can control sealed and bolted," said Delores's voice, "I just hope they can't squeeze through the vents."

Matt paused before saying, "Command modules have vents that are too small for even housecats. You should be ok. Find a gun and hunker down. We're almost there-" he said before jumping as the unmistakable sound of a sonic howl was heard and Delores screamed "No...NO...GET AWAY!" followed by the sound of a blaster before Delores began to scream over and over before Matt, with a shaking hand, killed the connection .

"You don't think Kai's doing any of that, is she?" asked Ben with worry.

"I have no idea. It was audio only, thank God," said Matt in a distant voice before he said, "Chris? Load the guys up with dragonbusters. I'm not in the mood to take Gralen prisoner today."

"This guy was from the Vladat wars, right?" asked Ben.

"Yeah, so?" asked Chris.

"Because I've got the perfect alien to deal with him," said Ben.

Matt turned to glare at Ben. "I just heard that girl get eaten alive because of him. I'm fresh out of mercy today," he snapped, his eyes glowing yellow.

"So am I," said Ben in a serious tone.

"Very good," said Matt as the ship suddenly shook to reveal a gas giant, a vast station floating above it.

"Oh good, space stations," said Chris sarcastically .

"Which means a plague could easily spread through it if it is particularly virulent," said Rook.

"No need, they have a walking plague carrier with them and her blood...and probably mine and Kala's," said Matt, before saying "We'll go over in shuttles, jam the SOS. I don't want this time's NSC turning up."

Ben was looking rather distressed until Rook said, "If Gralen is using Kai to infect other people, it is unlikely that she would be causing any fatalities. The plague cannot spread if the victims die."

Matt nodded before clicking on the intercoms. "Load extra clips of tazer rounds, non-lethal unless it's Gralen," he yelled into it.

"Hang on a sec, let me get my game face on," said Ben as he turned on the Omnitrix. He spun the dial around before saying, "Let's see how this guy does against Whampire."

He slammed on the Omnitrix and there was a flash of light. When if faded, Ben had changed into a green alien that was only a head taller than he was before, greatly resembling a gill-man wearing swim trunks that had the Omnitrix symbol on the belt. "What the, where did this guy come from?" asked Ben in a somewhat-gurgling voice.

"Yeah...a water breather's gonna be SOOOO useful ON A SPACE STATION!" snapped Matt.

"Say, did that Lucius guy ever grab the Omnitrix or something?" asked Chris.

"Yeah I think, so what good is this guy?" asked Ben. Rook looked at his Proto-Tool's computer and said,

"According to the Alien Lifeform Database, the Blaguana of Anur Milligan are capable of underwater respiration, increased strength, sharp claws, touch scales, acute night vision..."

"Uh, anything in there that doesn't make this guy a rip-off of Ripjaws?" asked Ben.

"It also says they can spit a corrosive ink," said Rook.

"Yes...yes he can...he tried to dissolve me…" said Matt in a small voice, remembering that moment .

"Ok, acid ink might be useful, until I dry out," said Ben.

"Actually, it says here that Blaguanas can survive out of water far longer than Piscciss Volanns," said Rook.

Chris yelled, "LETS JUST GO EAT THAT DAMN MORON!" getting a few cheers from the mercs.

...

The docking bay to the station resembled the main terminal of an airport, shops circling a vast foyer that had a window showing the gas giant the station orbited. However there was also alot of blood patches, as Delores had apparently said this was where the attack had begun. Matt and Chris were in their Loboan/werewolf forms, Matt having insisted Kala stay behind at the Novus

"Uh, won't this guy use his medallion to control you too?" asked Ben, or as he recently named this form, Murkfin.

"He's welcome to try with me and Chris will be smart enough to look away, won't you, Chris?" said Matt, looking at Chris who had been staring at a light dot on the floor all through that. "CHRIS!" Matt yelled in his ear

Chris yelped before saying, "Watch where you're shouting, megaphone mouth."

"Let's go..." said Matt carefully, before hearing some crying from one of the shops. Matt paused before motioning everyone to be quiet. Carefully, he crept forward to see who was crying. He slowly opened the door to see several Loboan cubs in clothing hugging each other. "Hey ki-" he began before a saucepan hit him in the face.

"GO AWAY!" screamed one of the cubs, clearly a kid. Matt yelped before rubbing his wounded snout, grumbling loudly about the stupid thing being more sensitive than his dragon's snout. Chris peered round the corner at that, ducking back in as more appliances were used as projectiles. "Go away, monsters! You're not gonna melt our brains!" yelled the same kid that had belted Matt

"We are not going to melt your brains, we came to help," called Rook.

"You're not with the wolf people? They bit us," said the other kid, in a little girl's voice .

"No, we are here to stop them," said Rook.

"My name's Alice. The bad wolves came in the shuttle and started biting everyone," said the girl in an overly cute voice

"Well, we'll be sure to get them," said Murkfin. The kids looked at him and screamed before throwing more stuff at him.

"ENOUGH!" yelled Matt before being hit again, the kids escaping into the vents. "Urgh...little brats...they took my bloody wallet!" snapped Matt, petting his pockets .

"Huh, space urchins adapt quickly," said Chris.

Matt glared before looking up to see a camera following him.

Gralen glared as he watched Matt peer closer at the feed, waving a hand before talking soundlessly to someone else. "I see that the captain is more persistent than I thought," said Gralen, "I shall have to send someone to deal with him." He reached forward and pressed the intercom button. "Brother captain, you came. Perhaps we could talk about this?" he said a little tauntingly

"We can talk about this when you're mounted over my fireplace!" snapped Matt.

"You don't have a fireplace," pointed out Chris.

"Shut up!" snapped Matt.

"Why? These poor people were struggling along when we came here," said Gralen before the view was twisted round to show Fenris.

"You foul villain. When I get my claws on you, you will regret the day you ever met me."

"Ah, the Asgardian. Not as wise as you claim to be, are you?" said Gralen smugly.

"Wisdom was not my specialty. Killing monsters like you was," growled Fenris .

"Monster? I see myself as a missionary. The Loboans are the most able-bodied race in the galaxy. I simply want to share the glory of being a strong Loboan with everyone," said Gralen.

"You're insane," said Fenris darkly, before Matt took the camera and grinned insanely.

"Get your will in order...cause I'm gonna take you apart bit by bit," he said before opening his mouth and biting the view, the feed going to static.

Gralen raised an eyebrow before saying, "I'm going to need to send more wolves."

...

"You probably should not have eaten the camera," said Rook.

"Kinda wonder what the footage from that will look like," said Murkfin.

Matt had a half-content/half-crazy look before he burped out the camera's data chip. "We can find out later," said Chris, a little disgusted before he paused and fired two tazer shots at the roof, the two cubs from earlier falling out with a yelp.

"Hey, you didn't have to do that, you jerk!" said Alice.

"Considering one of you took my wallet, I think I have the right to do that," said Chris.

"He took mine too," said Matt annoyed as the kids glared.

"Who cares? You're just working for that idiot...HEY!" snapped the boy before they both yelped as Fenris picked them up.

"Both of you, give back what you took," he commanded, shaking them .

From his shaking, three wallets fell out. "Huh, who else got picked?" asked Chris.

Rook felt his pockets and said, "I believe that would be me."

"It was easy too," said Alice smugly before doing her scared voice, "Pl-please don't hurt me."

Matt turned to Chris and said, "We can _not_ introduce these kids to NegaMorph. They'd rob us of everything."

"So...what's the fuzz doing here? Bit late aren't we?" said the boy smugly.

"If you were listening to our conversation earlier, you'd know we're trying to apprehend a zealot Loboan who's gotten his paws on something that he shouldn't," said Matt.

"Yeah? How do we know you're not just dark empire or something like that?" said the girl accusingly before Matt yelled "SMEG THIS...TELL ME WHERE THAT PITTLE PUNK OF A LOBOAN IS OR I'LL FEED YOU TO THE SPIDERBOTS!"

"Wait a second, are you Admiral Matthew Lynch?" asked the boy. "Well, not Admiral yet, there's a bit of a time travel problem," said Matt. The boy grinned widely and asked, "Can I have your autograph?"

Matt blinked at that, a little confused "Erm...what? I erm...haven't got a pen...but..." he said, his brain short circuiting.

Chris quickly seized on the opportunity, "If you lead us to that bad Loboan, he'll give you his autograph." "Deal," said the boy.

"I'm...I'm not a public nuisance...I worked hard to get that reputation...the future is dark." gibbered Matt, sadly ignored.

...

Meanwhile, Gralen had assembled a small pack of wolves to take care of their pursuers and he had selected one wolf in particular to lead them. "Sister Kia. Do not be fooled by the Loboans in their midst. They are traitors who will weaken us...and the weak do not get to live," Gralen commanded .

"I understand," said Kai with a growl.

As Kai went off with her squad, Gralen's second muttered, "You know they will be wiped out, correct?"

"We already got what we want from her," said Gralen indifferently.

"Indeed, but how do we get out? Their ship will destroy us the minute we take off," said the second .

Gralen span and pinned his second to the wall at that, "They are fighting pure Loboans. They will fall as did the feeble soldiers on this station.

"But they have a ship-" started the second.

"Which we will be stealing shortly," said Gralen.

"Ok...as you...say…" winced the second before Gralen let him go . Once the second had managed to clear his throat, he asked, "Wasn't that a Blaguana with them?"

"So?" said Gralen, not really listening before pausing, "They have a what?"

Meanwhile, the others were following the cubs, er, kids to where the bad Loboans were.

"Their leader was a creep. He gave us a weird stare and then got angry when we wouldn't kiss his ass like the adults," complained the boy, who's name was Arron.

"Kids say the darnest thing," commented Skurd.

"My amulet will not affect the young. Mostly because the wolf stones go for warriors...adults. There was no need to make the amulet effect children," said Fenris, looking down a side corridor and frowning, "We are being stalked."

"Asides from the cameras?" asked Murkfin.

"No...6...maybe 7 Loboans," said Fenris calmly, gripping his sword .

"Oh good, I was starting to get bored," said Matt dryly.

"Do not be complacent," said Fenris calmly before Kai could be seen in front of them

"I was afraid he'd try to do that," said Murkfin, "Kai, it's me, Ben. You know, your boyfriend."

Kai's reply was to bear her teeth and yell "KILL THEM ALL!"

As the Loboans charged behind her, Murkfin said, "Ok, guess I have to hold them off." He took a deep hocking breath before spitting several globs of acid ink at the floor in front of the Loboans. The Loboans barely managed to skid to a halt before they fell down the hole in front of them . "Ha, that took care of them," said Murkfin. Then the Loboans jumped back out of the hole. "Oh, wait, I forgot they could jump," said Murkfin.

Several tazer rounds hit the Loboans at that before the last one was sonic blasted by Matt. "Go for Kai! Get close and bash some sense in if that's needed!" he yelled .

However, these Loboans seemed to have more fortitude than normal and kept getting back up. "Ok, time for Plan B for Batty," said Murkfin before pressing on the Omnitrix on his belt.

In a flash, he was replaced by a very vampiric-looking alien. "Ah, much better," said Whampire. Some of the Loboans paused at that before whining and dropping into a crouch, most of them gibbering .

"What kind of alien is that?" asked Chris.

"A Vladat," said Whampire.

"I don't see what's so scary about you," said Matt.

"Hang on a sec," said Whampire before spitting something at an incoming Loboan. The object, which was revealed to be a diamond-shape eye with bat wings, hit the Loboan's forehead. The Loboan froze in place before Whampire said, "Get them." Immediately, the Loboan turned and attacked some of the cowering Loboans.

"Ok...that's pretty cool," said Matt before Kai sonic blasted him .

"Kai, I hope you'll thank me for this later," said Whampire before spitting a Corruptra onto her forehead. As Kai stumbled, Whampire's eyes glowed hypnotically and said, "You are not under Gralen's control. Wake up." Kai whimpered, the Corruptra starting to smoke as the Asgardian 'magic' tried to fight back . "You are not his attack dog, you are Kai Green. You do not take orders from him," said Whampire.

Kai snarled weakly, grabbing her head before stopping, just as the Corruptra dissolved to dust. "Uh, better slap another on her," said Matt.

Kai groaned, "No...No, I'm ok," staggering back as she shifted back to human .

Whampire gave a sigh of relief, "You really had me worried there for a moment."

"That...guy...he's gonna steal the ship," Kai managed, slumping down the wall as exhaustion kicked in .

"My ship? MY SHIP!?" snapped Matt.

"Uh oh," muttered Chris, giving Matt some space, Matt who proceeded to knock a remaining Loboan flying into a wall from sheer anger.

"He thinks he can take MY SHIP!"

"Is he normally this overprotective about his ships?" asked Fenris.

"You haven't flown with him," said Chris dryly.

Kai shook her head, trying to get her brain to unscramble again. "He said this was...a trap. He knows that shuttles falling apart. He needs a bigger one," she said .

"HE'S NOT TAKING MY SHIP!" snapped Matt.

Chris sighed before turning on his com, "Corporal, watch out for any boarding attempts."

"Will do, sir. Nothing will get by me," said the corporal. His words rang rather hollow since he was already a Loboan.

Gralen, earning a future death sentence from Matt by sitting in the command chair said with an evil grin, "It is a suitable vessel, but do its weapons work?"

"Completely operational," said the corporal.

"I think we should test them...just in case," said Gralen with a smirk.

"Of course, alpha," said the corporal.

...

Meanwhile...

Matt was 'interrogating the Loboan Kai had identified as Gralen's second...via playing 'make a new door using someone's head. "Ok, let's try again, where's Gralen?" said Matt's his left eye twitching

"He left..." said the Loboan dizzily.

"You said that last time, more information!" snapped Matt, the others wisely keeping their distance, though Fenris was enjoying the interrogation, saying it reminded him of an outpost back in the outer realms.

"He left the space station..." said the Loboan a bit incoherently.

"Where to? We control his shuttle and he doesn't have an ID chip for the escape pods!" said Matt, before bashing him against the wall a few more times .

"He's getting a new ship," said the Loboan.

"The only other ship is mine and it's locked down!" snapped Matt, Chris, looking out a porthole saying "…and turning to aim at us."

Matt's eye twitched and he snapped, "He's in my ship?! AND HE'S USING IT AGAINST US?!"

"Everyone out!" yelled Chris, the guns of the frigate glowing as they charged up

Matt took a bit of dragging as his mind was locked on shouting profanities at Gralen, his kin, and all he was gonna unleash on them.

...

Gralen watched as the frigate guns pummeled the station, one whole section blown loose. "Warning...target orbital vector altered...colony destruction in 25 minutes," the computer said

"That should be enough," said Gralen, "We have other work to do."

"Yes, my alpha. Where to?" asked one of the Loboans .

"Well, we've received a great gift from our host, I think we ought to share it with others," said Gralen.

...

"Urgh...got any two's?" said Matt darkly.

It was lucky that most of the converted colonists still remembered where the emergency zones were and with the Novus star barely 15 minutes away when the attack happened, it meant they'd be saved. The trouble was spending the time till rescue. Arron had brought up the innocent suggestion of poker but he had forgotten to say how he was also a card shark as well as currently a Loboan. But at least Fenris had been suckered into the game and he turned out to be a worse player than Matt.

"Ok, you both owe me...500 thousand credits...each," said Arron with an evil smirk before Chris's com finally beeped. "Frigate Black Dragon...please respond, this is Novus star."

Chris answered and said, "I'm afraid the Black Dragon has been lost. Not destroyed, but we literally lost it."

"Oh crap, not again," muttered the voice on the other end, clearly one of Matt's regular crew.

"Yeah, we need a pick up and to evacuate all the people on this station," said Chris.

"Roger that, we're already in system, ETA 20 seconds," said the crewman.

...

The Novus Star made quick speed back to Earth, mostly so that the colonists could be processed. Most of them actually had interest in going to Anur, though two tiny Loboans were refusing to leave the ship.

"I told you, I don't have current funds. Can't you take an IOU?" snapped Matt.

"Not a chance..." said Arron smugly .

"And you still owe us plenty," said Alice, poking Fenris.

"Are gems no longer considered currency in this time?" growled Fenris.

"Hah, they're pocket change in the NSC!" said Alice smugly .

Fenris groaned before turning to Matt. "Can't you help me out with this?" he asked.

"Hey, I've already got my own problem," said Matt.

"Then we're staaaying…" said Arron in a sing-song voice .

Matt groaned before saying to Chloe, "I want them placed on the opposite end of the ship from NegaMorph. I'm not turning this ship into a den of thieves." He glanced at Fenris and said, "And he's gonna be our extended guest for a while so find him a place to stay."

Chloe gave an annoyed sigh and said, "Just what we need, more werewolves."

She was then blown off her feet when everyone shouted, "WE'RE NOT WEREWOLVES!"

* * *

There's the next chapter. Sorry it took longer to get up, I've been under the weather lately. And with this chapter, we're finally bringing an end to the extended Loboan focus for the time being. And we've gotten Fenris from the Broken Nest fic back. The next chapter will feature more Ben 10 aspects and should be up at the regular time. Keep an eye out for it and please review.


	6. One Mean Mother

**Reticence Saga**

**The Aliens Within**

**Chapter 6: One Mean Mother**

While Gralen had torn apart a fair amount of the medical bay earlier, he had, quite fortunately, overlooked the place where Mina and Lita were still resting after their encounter with the kryteer. Kryteer don't leave people alive very often, mainly if they've been interrupted. Being comatose was hardly the worse that could happen after an encounter. Some people have had whole years of life scared out of them by the creature. And that phrase was about to take another twist as Mina started to wake up.  
Matt and Kala had come in every free moment they had, mostly because Matt was pissed that a kryteer had gotten her on his watch. He'd also made sure that it was _always_ guarded after Gralen's little rampage. Lita herself was awake in the next bed over and looked little the worse for wear, though Mina was a different story.

Mina groaned a bit before opening her eyes. "Mina, are you hearing us?" asked Kala.

"Yeah, I think so," said Mina weakly.

Matt and Kala gave a sigh of relief before Matt asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Like my stomach's caved in," groaned Mina.

"Not surprised, you haven't eaten in quite a while. I'll send for a leg of lamb," said Matt.

"Matt, are you sure we want to give her solid food so quickly?" asked Kala.

Mina's stomach growled very noisily and she shouted even louder, "FEED ME NOW!"

"One leg of lamb it is," laughed Matt cheerfully as Lita waved from her bed.

"Least you're ok too," she said

"We ought to get her a leg too," said Kala.

"FEED ME!" yelled Mina.

"Uh, better make that a whole lamb," said Kala.

...

A short time later and Mina was demolishing some roast lamb as Matt and Kala watched and Lita tried not to stare at the food. Mina turned out to be a lot more ravenous than any of them would have expected. It would have been messy if Mina weren't make sure to pick every single bone clean. When the last scrap of meat vanished down her gullet, Lita asked, "Uh, can I have-" Mina hissed at her before gnawing on the bones themselves.  
Kala raised an eye brow at Matt. "Been giving her lessons?" she said before sighing as Matt was petting Mina on the head saying "That's my goddaughter."

Mina snarled and snapped at Matt's hand, which he barely retracted in time. "Geeze, you'd think she'd have gotten full from that lamb already," said Matt.

Just then, Mina stopped her gnawing and started quivering. "Mina, honey, are you feeling ok?" asked Kala.

Just then, Mina surged in size, her uniform quickly getting very tight as her body expanded in size. Most noticeably, her hips and bottom had become noticeably rounder while her fledgling chest grew to more adolescent proportions. She lifted her head, her face also looking more mature, and shouted in a slightly deeper voice, "MORE FOOD!"

The group stared before Lita said, "What the heck do you put in your lamb?"

"I thought they were putting growth hormones in cows, not sheep," said Matt before having to duck as Mina threw a bone at him and yelled, "GET ME MORE FOOD!"

Matt stood up, snapping "ENOUGH!" easily catching the next bone, before starting to gnaw on it cigar style without any apparent shame . "Mina, I don't know what's going on here, but we're decreasing your food intake until we figure it out. And shouting is not going to improve that so please put that down," said Matt, the last part coming out at a bit of a whimper as Mina had heaved up the bed she was laying on and was getting ready to throw it.

Mina seemed to twitch before starting to sob. "Oh, there, there, Mina," said Kala soothingly, "We'll figure this little problem out."

"Buuut I'm just sooo hungryyyyyyyy…" wailed Mina.

Lita looked thoughtful before calling Kala over. "I think I know what's wrong," she said, whispering something in Kala's ear .

"Really? What?" asked Kala.

"She's a teenager..." said Lita out loud .

Mina blinked before saying excitedly, "Yeah, I am a teenager. I can stay later, I can go on missions, and I can even drive now."

"Still not driving," said Matt on automatic .

"I can drive if I want to!" snapped Mina.

"Not if I have anything to-" started Matt before Mina threw the bed at him. It was that point the spiderbots intervened.

...

"...and that's why we're banned from the medical bay for 1 week," said Matt, sitting at the Mr. Smoothy's with Ben.

"Huh, is it normal for dragons to start growing that fast?" asked Ben.

"Hardly," said Matt, "In fact, she shouldn't be able to grow at all with the chronal detainment spectrum."

"The what now?" asked Ben.

"Oh, with some universes, including this one, when any living thing is displaced to a different time period than when it belongs, they completely stop aging until they're returned to their proper time," said Matt.

"Huh, that would explain Billy Billions," muttered Ben.

"Billy who?" asked Matt.

"Oh, no one important," said Ben, "But couldn't something else had made Mina grow?"

"Maybe that kryteer?" suggested Kala.

"If it had sucked out a few years of her life, they would have showed immediately, not right after she ate," said Matt.

"Got no idea. Does anyone in this crazy time zone know about time travel?" asked Kala .

"Professor Paradox would, but evidently this isn't important enough or he would have shown up," said Ben.

"Hmm..." said Matt before adding "And if it isn't bad enough, the experiments are getting stir crazy."

"Where are they currently?" asked Rook.

"Oh, in town somewhere," said Matt casually, causing Ben and Rook to spit out their smoothies.

"What? People know about aliens. What could happen?" said Matt innocently . Just then, an explosion was heard not too far away. "Coincidence," said Matt quickly .

"We better make sure," said Rook, standing up.

...

It turns out, it really _was_ a coincidence, seeing how it was unlikely the experiments would have blown up a bank. The real culprits soon exited the hole they blew in the bank. "Octagon, how's come I hafta carry all the coins?" asked Rhomboid.

"Cause you're the strongest of the two of us and this paper money is of a more acceptable weight and burden for a smaller feller like me," said Octagon.

The two were ready to get another load when a plumber truck rolled up, Ben, rook and Matt (in human form) jumping out . "See, told you it was a coincidence," said Matt.

"Is that Matt Lynch?" asked Rhomboid.

"I'm afraid so," said Octagon, "Seems like we're gettin' blown up early today."

"Yeah, I'm just observing," said Matt innocently.

"That ain't like the Matt Lynch we've come across," said Octagon.

"Maybe he's a fake," said Rhomboid. The two Vreedle brothers exchanged a glance before opening fire.

Matt yelped jumping behind the cover of the timecycles, looking at his reflection. "I should have asked for a Unitrix too instead of counting on hulk logic," he snapped . With that, he removed his holocloak and jumped back around the timecycles, letting out a sonic howl as he did.

The Vreedles were thrown back by the blast, but were barely hurt. "Ain't Lynch supposed to turn into a dragin'?" asked Rhomboid.

"That he does, which seems to weight to the argument that this fellow is an imposter," said Octagon.

"I'm no imposter, you are!" Snapped Matt before sonic howling them again .

Meanwhile, Ben had activated his Omnitrix and changed into Shocksquatch. "Ok, let's get the party started, eh?" he said before sending bolts of electricity at the Vreedles.

The two of them got zapped, but instead of yelping in pain, they laughed. "Heehee, that tickled," said Rhomboid.

"Oh yeah? Laugh this off!" snapped Matt, tossing two plasma grenades at them .

"Hmm, that doe seem more likely of Matt Lynch's preferred method of gettin' rid of somebody," said Octagon before the grenades went off. After the flash and bang, all that was left was a smoking crater. "Well, that takes of them for the day," said Matt.

...

Not too far off, the Vreedles' ship beeped as the cloning chambers in the back spat out a new pair of Vreedle clones. "Fortunately, we'd had the foresight of parking the cloning machines close," said Octagon.

"Sure does save time," said Rhomboid.

"Of course, it'll make robbin' an establishment a little harder," said Octagon

"Can't we just pick up where we left off?" asked Rhomboid.

"The problem with that suggestion is that Tennyson and Lynch are still there and goin' back now will just get us blown up again," said Octagon.  
Rhomboid seemed thoughtful before saying, "Why not get some grub till they leave?"

"Not a bad idea, Boid," said Octagon, "New clones got empty stomachs."

...

Matt looked at what was left, saying, "Who the heck were those twerps?"

"I thought you knew the Vreedles," said Ben.

"Oh, right, they looked a different for some reason," said Matt, "Maybe I should get my eyes checked."

"There are alot of them. They are a big family," said Rook, adding, "Though military ordinance is perhaps unnecessary ."

"Eh, force of habit," said Matt, "Now where were we before Dumb and Dumber tried to rob the bank?" "Regarding Jumba Jookiba's illegal genetic experiments?" asked Rook.

"Ah yes. He made quite a few. Usually Lilo'd keep them from running too much of amok but she's in her home universe at the moment and I doubt I call her current version," said Matt .

"Technically, this is her home universe, though I doubt you would wish to endanger causality by contacting Ambassador Pelekai," said Rook.

"True, though I could use some tips for reining in Draco," said Matt.

"I do not recommend this course of action," said Rook as Matt dialed on his comm.

"He'll have to find out the hard way," said Ben.

Matt waited for the ring before a block he recognized came on. "They kept a code lock? Huh, override 9912," he ordered, grinning as it began to ring .

After a bit, a voice came through, "This is the chronal communications block established by acting Novus Star AI, Dr. Aria. Your call has not been granted approval and could potentially aversely effect the flow of time. This call has been disconnected."

"What?! You listen to me, you stuffed shirt of a computer! I have the right to call whoever I want, whenever I want, even if the 'when' is not the proper 'when'!" snapped Matt.

There was a slight pause before the comm said, "Your voice print has been identified as Captain Matthew Lynch. Your disregard for protocol has been anticipated and you will be shortly receiving a 500 volt shock to discourage you from making further calls. Thank you."

"Wait, 500 what?" asked Matt before he started getting shocked.

"You think this will keep Matt from making more calls?" asked Rook.

"He'll probably try it a few more times until he either finds someone to yell at directly or something happens to distract him," said Ben.

...

Meanwhile, Mina was not in a rather bright mood. She had gotten older and yet everyone's been treating her _more_ like a kid. She would have hoped she'd get more privileges, but all she was getting was sore from the tightness of her clothes.

Chloe, Megan and Kala were helping her a bit with that, Megan having cast the same spell her own clothing had to stop them being destroyed. Mina gave a sigh of relief when her clothes became less restricting. "Finally," said Mina, "So when are we going to do some big girl stuff?"

"I dunno..." began Kala before Megan used a spell to make hers and Chloe's lips seal.

"We can go right now!" she said, writing in the air behind Mina, 'Let's do it so she won't go nuclear.'

"Great," said Mina before pausing to look at herself in a mirror. She was getting very pretty now. She wondered if boys found her cute now or whether she cared about that. As she was pondering that, she suddenly felt something squirm before there was a popping sound. Mina stared in horror at the pustule that had just emerged from her forehead.

"RUN AWAY!" yelled Megan, the trio managing to clear the room before it literally exploded .

"Isn't she overreacting just a little bit?" asked Kala.

"Dragons aren't supposed to get zits," said Chloe, "And you would have no idea how mortifying they are to girls."

"I'M UGLYYYY!" yelled Mina from the other room, a spontaneous shadow spear narrowly missing Kala.

"One lonely pimple does not make you ugly," called Kala. Not long after that, there were a few more popping noises and Mina let out a shriek.

"That's more pimples. Don't worry, judging from her aging, they should be popping and vanishing any tiiiime NOW!" Said Megan, diving for cover .

Kala and Chloe also dived for cover and it was for good reason. Mina's pimples didn't simply burst, they fired like cannons. And being part dragon, the missiles were flaming wads that exploded on impact. After a minute, Mina staggered out, saying in a faint voice, "Never again." before falling on her face and smoldering

The girls winced before Chloe asked, "Is she likely to have another acne attack?"

"Maybe if she ate something greasy," said Megan.

Mina twitched at that. "Ok, no grease for her," said Chloe quickly .

...

The Vreedles had gone to eat at the most diverse eating establishment in Bellwood, much to the dismay of the owner. "The Vreedle brothers? Oh no," moaned Mr. Bauman as the alien thugs walked in, "I suppose you're here to rob my store and then that wrecking ball Ben Tennyson will show up."

"Nah, we just here ta eat," said Rhomboid.

"And we're gettin' a discount, a five-finger discount," said Octagon, pointing his gun at Mr. Bauman.

Rhomboid slowly counted the fingers on one hand before saying, "But we only got four fingers."

"That was what you might call a figure of speech, Boid," said Octagon, "As in we ain't payin' for lunch today."

An explosion from the direction of the self-serve microwave signaled the arrival of a white...thing that splatted over Octagon's face, a cybernetic thing and a small draconic creature running into view.

"Octagon, you got hit in the face with a marshmallow," said Rhomboid.

Octagon pulled the thing off his face and said, "I have to disagree with you, Rhomboid, on account of this ain't no marshmallow."

The thing formed into a cute slug-like creature before saying, "Hello."

"Heh. It's alive," said Octagon, the slug creature saying "You look weird." a blaster being shoved up his nose .

"Hey, put down our cousin," said the cybernetic thing.

The brothers both laughed at that "What you gonna do about it, tiny?" said Rhomboid .

"Well, for starters," said the cyborg before zapping Octagon's blaster which quickly shut down.

"Hey!" complained Octagon, tossing his useless blaster aside and aiming a blow at the cyborg .

The dragon caught the blow before grinning widely with four mouths. "Oh no, here comes the smashing," groaned Mr. Bauman.

Octagon glared before yelping as Draco tossed him into a food display, Rhomboid reaching for his own blaster . The white blob, which had been dropped by Octagon, shifted into what looked like a purple four-armed pig before lifting Rhomboid above his head and spinning him around.

Octagon meanwhile was struggling with the dragon, "You think you can beat me?"

"Easily," said the dragon before throwing Octagon into his much thicker brother.

"You ok, Octagon?" asked Rhomboid a little dizzily .

"I'm thinking we might have bitten more than we can chew," said Octagon.

"But we haven't eaten yet," said Rhomboid.

The Vreedles looked over to see the dragon charging up blasts in his mouths and the cyborg charging up some big guns. "Uh oh," said the two of them before they were blasted out of the store one foot at a time, the creatures apparently taking their time about this.  
Rhomboid said dizzily at that, "Can we go back to the bank yet, Octagon?"

"I'm thinkin' that may be a good idea," said Octagon before they got up and started to run away.

"Yeah, you better run, losers!" called the dragon, "You punks are no match for us. And don't get me started about your mama!"  
The brothers froze at that, slowly turning and Rhomboid saying slowly, "What did you say about our ma?"

"I say yo mama's so fat, she's classified as her own planet!" taunted the dragon. The Vreedles gave angry growls at that. "Yo mama so ugly, she entered a Grendalek ugly contest and won!" taunted the dragon.

"Uh, Draco, aren't you getting a bit too far?" asked the cyborg.

"Quiet, Chip, I'm on a roll," said Draco before calling, "Yo mama's so stupid, she cheated off of Morph's IQ test!"

The blob giggled and said, "That's a good one."

Rhomboid also laughed and said, "That was pretty funny."

"Can it, Boid. That weren't supposed to be funny ta us!" snapped Octagon.

"It weren't?" asked Rhomboid.

"Boid, our family honor is at stake. They just called Ma fat, ugly, and stupid," said Octagon.

Rhomboid glared and said, "Nobody talks about Ma that way."

"What ya gonna do about it?" taunted Draco before his eyes went wide as the two brothers got out their heavy artillery .

"Ok, I think we need to end this quick," said Chip before sending out a viral blast that hit the brothers' blasters.  
The brothers glared and tried to fire, their blasters starting to crackle with unfired energy. "I thinks we're about to be blown up, Octagon," said Rhomboid .

"I suspect you're right, Boid," said Octagon before the blasters glowed brightly and exploded.

When the smoke cleared, there was just the two brothers' shoes smoking in the crater their blasters had made. "You _had_ to tease their mother," scolded Chip .

"It was funny," protested Draco.

"And I suppose killing them was funny too," said Chip.

"Oh, they'll be back," said Mr. Bauman with unconcern, "The Vreedles get blown up all the time. They'll pop up again in clone bodies and get blown up later. Hopefully next time won't be at my store."

"See? No harm, no foul," said Draco.

"They also are very protective about their mother," added Mr. Bauman .

"Big deal," said Draco dismissively, "You think Mina's cooled off enough to return to the ship?"

"Didn't you hear him? You're in deep trouble." snapped chip

"From the expendable clowns? Hardly. You heard about the Vreedle brothers, they don't even have a bounty on them. The NSC official label them as 'target practice'," said Draco.  
At that point, the timecycles pulled up, Ben, Rook, and Matt running up. "Ok, what did Morph put in the microwave this time?" Matt said .

Morph scratched his head and said, "I'm not really sure, but it looked tasty."

Mr. Bauman seemed to see Ben at that. "Oh no...not Tennyson...urgh, at least the trouble's gone," he muttered .

"I'm guessing it's more than just these guys," said Ben, pointing at the experiments.

"Eh, just a little tussle with the Vreedle brothers, nothing to worry about," said Draco.

"The clone guys? They were here?" said Matt .

"Yep, they weren't that hard to beat," said Draco, "They did break out some big guns when I threw a few 'yo mama' jokes at them."

Rook and Ben stared at Draco as he had gone completely insane. "You insulted Ma Vreedle?" asked Rook.

Matt facepalmed. "Even I wouldn't have done that. It's the unwritten rule. I doubt even Ghoulwyrm would," he said.

"Well, yeah, insulting moms is dirty, but Draco really shouldn't have insulted their mom," said Ben.

"So? It's not like she'll take it that personally," said Draco.

...

Back at the Vreedles' ship, the clone chambers opened to let loose Octagon and Rhomboid's latest bodies, and man were they ticked.

"That ugly gator is gonna get a big whoopin' once we find him," said Rhomboid.

"Right, we better load up on bigger guns though," said Octagon.

But just then, the communicator beeped. Octagon flipped it on and both of them said, "Hi, Ma."  
"Where have you two been? You're late for mah stew," snapped Ma Vreedle .

"Awfully sorry, Ma, but we is currently involved in what you might call a quest for vengeance," said Octagon.

"If yer talkin' about blastin' Ben 10, save it fer later. Yer keepin' yer baby brothers waitin'," snapped Ma.

"It ain't Ben 10 we's gonna blow up," said Rhomboid, "We's gonna blow up a mutant lizard for sayin' mean things about ya."

"What? Some two bit mutant's been talkin' bout me behind mah back?" snapped Ma Vreedle.

"Yeah. He called fat, ugly, and stupid," said Rhomboid.

"Which we knows is not correct at all," said Octagon.

"Fine, you two get back home and eat yer stew. Ah'm gonna find where this here lizard is and sort him out proper," said Ma Vreedle .

...

Meanwhile, the group had moved to Plumber HQ, Draco still not convinced about the gravity of his faux pas. "I still don't bite how one lady can be that bad," said Draco.

"You haven't met Ma Vreedle." said Ben, with a shudder, remembering the last disastrous visit .

"As if she's any worse than her sons," said Draco.

"Ma Vreedle is far more dangerous than her two sons put together," said Rook, "She is wanted in 12 systems and banned in 27 more."

"Not to mention Vilgax himself is scared of her," said Ben.

"Vilgax...as in the galactic warlord who wanted to vaporize you?" said Draco, his cockiness vanishing .

"Yeah, I find it hard to believe too," said Ben.

"Ok, now I know you're exaggerating," said Draco.

"I believe there is adequate footage to show just what Ma Vreedle is capable of," said Rook. Grandpa Max nodded, pressing a button and causing the main screen to light up with the footage of the last 'visit'.

Draco started to go pale as he watched Ma Vreedle trash the Plumber base when she was looking for her Pretty Boy. "And let's not forget what happened when the whole family was in town," said Ben, pressing another button and showing the Vreedles spreading mayhem around Bellwood.

Draco's mouths fell open in horror. "And I upset her?" he said in a squeaky voice. Morph highlighted this thought by humming the funeral dirge. "Shut up, Morph," Draco whimpered, one of his mouths gnawing on his claws .

"Yep, she's gonna make a pair of boots out of you," said Matt, "Probably a matching handbag too."

"Matt, please shut up," gibbered Draco .

"I call dibs on his stuff," said Chip before NegaMorph shoved him out of the way.

"Forget it, I'm getting the good stuff," snapped NegaMorph.

Matt lifted an eyebrow and asked, "How long were you here?" "Uh, just a few minutes. Figured it'd be quieter over here since Mina's throwing a major hissy fit on the Novus Star," said NegaMorph.

"What kind of hissy fit?" asked Matt innocently as Draco continued to have a nervous breakdown .

"Oh, the kind that leaves a burning ruin wherever she's been," said NegaMorph.

"Oh, nothing new then," said Matt, before pausing, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Well, apparently it involved a bucket of fried chicken, a mirror, and an unflattering comment by someone," said NegaMorph.

"And did that comment happen to come from you?" asked Matt suspiciously.

"No," said NegaMorph only for Morph, turned into Fibber, to beep loudly.

"NegaMorph...go back...and APOLOGISE TO MY GODDAUGHTER!" roared Matt .

"Can't I wait until she's simmered down?" asked NegaMorph.

"What do you think?" said Matt before Draco suddenly hugged his head, screaming "SAVE MEEEEE!"

"Oh, right, you talked smack about Ma Vreedle," said NegaMorph, "Not very bright of you."

"I'M TOO YOUNG TO BE A HANDBAAAAG!" screamed Draco in Matt's ear .

Matt winced before managing to pull Draco off and shove him over NegaMorph's head. "Yell in his ear, he deserves it," said Matt as he rubbed his sore ear.

"NEGAMORPH! I don't wanna be a pair of boots! DO SOMETHING OR I'LL YELL IN YOUR EAR MORE!" yelled Draco .

"Hmm, we'll need to hide you somewhere," said NegaMorph before going over to a water fountain and stuffing Draco into the water container. "Perfect, no one will notice you," he said.

"NegaMorph, you're fired." said Matt, pulling Draco out.

"You can't fire me, I've got a contract," said NegaMorph.

Matt gave him an odd look before saying, "I didn't sign any contract...did I? Anyhow, if you can't be useful here, go apologize to Mina." NegaMorph glared, vanishing before he said, "Can't you hide him?"

"Well, we have the Plumber space station and the Novus Star," said Chip, "I think between the two of them, we can put together a good enough defense to keep Draco from harm."

"That's for that, Chip. Murphy's always listening," said Matt darkly .

"Who is Murphy?" asked Rook.

"He's talking about Murphy's Law, as in things will go bad when someone says 'things could not get any worse' or 'what could possibly go wrong'," said Ben.

"Like what CHIP DID!" snapped Matt, glaring and sticking a fridge magnet to Chip's head .

"Oh, yoouu aaarrreee eeeexxxxaaaaggggeeeerrrraaaattttiiiinnnngggg..." said Chip as his voice slowed a lot.

"Name one time the universe hasn't kicked us in the nuts when we've gotten too cocky," snapped Matt .

Chip couldn't reply because his voice processor had apparently gotten stuck and he was just saying, "uuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrr..."

"Ok…so, we wait till Ma Vreedle arrives then we nuke her," said Matt ,

"How long do you suppose that'll take?" asked Ben.

"Well, if I was her, I'd be tearing Bellwood apart looking for Draco," said Matt .

"Most likely starting with Undertown," said Rook.

There was a pause, as if expecting the alarm to come in that second. "Hmm...maybe I was wrong?" said Matt .

...

Meanwhile, 'Chloe' had decided to take a break from Mina's pubescent tantrums by strolling around Undertown. She probably could have been doing some covert way of fanning the flames of Mina's delightfully unpredictable mood swings, but her rapid development gave 'Chloe' an odd feeling of nostalgia. 'Odd' because she has memories of going through puberty and being fully aware they weren't hers. She was also enjoying the fact she could go through Undertown as her real self without even a whimper from anyone. "Oh, I could almost live here," she said as she floated along .

She was passing by Argit's place when she heard a commotion going on inside. "Hmm, wonder what that little ratfink is up to," said Betrayl before shrinking down to a tiny size and poofing into Argit's office.

"I-I'm telling you, Mrs. Vreedle. I dunno who this dragon thing is you're talking about!" yelped Argit .

"Hogwash!" snapped Ma, "Ya know everything about who goes through Undertown and yer gonna fess up or I'm puttin' ya on the spit for dinner!"

"I REALLY DON'T KNOW!" screamed Argit, panicking a bit .

"Ma, perhaps if Argit had what you might call a visual representation of this lizard, he would know who we're talkin' about," said Octagon.

"Ya two have a picture of that thing?" said Ma doubtfully.

"I sure do. I made it myself," said Rhomboid, holding up a rather crude drawing that looked like it had been done by a kindergartener with crayon.

Ma, her vision filtered by 'parent-o-vision', said, "See? It's clear that there's a dragon cre-" she began before there was a click, a flash of light and the picture was suddenly a photo of Draco.

"Wow, I's a better artist than I thought," said Rhomboid.

"That...that I might know. One of Admiral Lynch's friends," said Argit .

"Then where does he live, ya varmint?" snapped Ma.

"On the warship in orbit, though I hear he comes down every now and then to get coconut cake," said Argit, happy now he was sure he was not barbeque fodder .

"Ya know how to get on that ship?" asked Ma.

"You can't, they don't let anyone on board...but you could lure him down," said Argit.

"How could we undertake such a tricky operation?" asked Octagon.

"Hey, I think I wrote a plan," said Rhomboid, looking behind the picture to see a very detailed-looking plan with a teleport frequency .

"Since when could you write that good?" asked Ma dubiously.

"Ah can't, Ma," said Rhomboid, scratching his head .

"Something screwy's goin' on round here," said Ma before taking the plan and reading it. Granted, her education wasn't the best either, but she was able to make sense of it. "Ok, Argit. Ah want one of these here tellyportar things," she said darkly .

"Uh, I'm afraid I don't have such a device in storage," said Argit before gulping as Octagon and Rhomboid aimed their blasters at him, "But I can get you one."

...

The teleporter in the Novus Star was pretty heavily controlled, a small squad on duty at all times, except for now at shift change, where just two were present. "Hey...you ever wonder why we're here?" said one marine before the teleporter pad lit up for an incoming warp .

"Uh, we expecting anybody coming in today?" asked the other marine.

"Control, we have unauthorized incoming, codes check out," the first one said, a crewman on the other end saying "Probably team 12 on their way back."  
"Fine," muttered the other one, the two holstering their weapons and standing at attention.  
However, when the light of the port cleared, three Vreedles were standing on the pad, guns at the ready, which fired, taking the two marines out before they could even move .

"Alright, boys, we're huntin' down that lizard and a-blowin' up anyone who gets in our way. You think you two knuckleheads can handle that?" asked Ma.

"Emergency, unauthorized weapon fire in teleport bay 6. All security respond," said a voice at that .

"If there's one thing we're good at, it's blowin' up," said Rhomboid.

"Just make sure it's them that gets blown up and not you," snapped Ma.

Several troopers ran into view at that, one of them yelling, "DROP THE WEAPONS!"

"Let 'em have it, boys!" shouted Mom before the Vreedles opened fire.

Two of the troopers were torn apart almost immediately, the others taking cover. "All units, we got intruders, might be Vreedles!" one yelled into his com before a blast vaporized him.

...

Draco's reaction to this news was pretty much what everyone expected. "HIDE ME! HIDE ME! HIDE ME!" yelled Draco, shaking Matt like a maraca.

Matt managed, "Stop shaking meeee." before he finally hit Draco on the head .

"I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm so totally dead," whined Draco.

"Well you did piss off the biggest villain family in the multiverse," said Matt casually .

"I think that's exaggerating," said Chip.

"But she is the meanest mother in this galaxy," said Morph.

"That's...probably dead-on accurate," said Chip.

"And she'll probably hit Draco till he's wafer thin," said NegaMorph with glee .

"You're not helping," said Ben.

"Besides, I do not think Draco is in mortal danger," said Rook.

"I've just calculated the probability of Draco surviving his encounter with Mrs. Vreedle," said Aria over the intercom.

"And they are?" asked Rook. There was a brief pause before the funeral dirge was played.

"Et tu, Aria?" groaned Draco.

"This is security...they split up...we can't find the ma but the other two are headed for engineering," said a voice in the com .

"That can't be good," said Ben.

"We gotta get Draco off this ship," said Matt urgently .

"Yes, off the ship, good idea!" said Draco in a very anxious way.

"It's better than here," snapped Matt .

"Then we better hurry," said Rook.

...

Meanwhile, Mina was back on the rage side of her current mood curve, as was indicated by several small scorches around her. She'd heard the alarm and the order to head back to quarters but had chosen to ignore it. "They can't tell me what to do. I'm a teenager," she growled.

On cue, a trooper was thrown into view ahead of her, smashing into a wall and slumping down, causing Mina to freeze in place as her self-preservation began to point out the plusses of heading back to her room. Her self-preservation became more demanding when she saw what had thrown the trooper come around the corner: a big, fat, ugly grey-skinned woman with two big guns in her hands.

"Meep," she managed before turning and legging it, and being grabbed as something wrapped round her legs.

Mina looked down to see that her legs were wrapped up by ribbons that seemed to come from the lady's lower back. "Hold it right there," she barked, "You haven't seen a scrawny lizard thing with ten legs, have ya?"

"You mean Draco?" yelped Mina, trying to get her hands to transform so she could grab the floor plating.

"Where's that lowdown snake hidin'?" barked Ma, "That ugly gator's gotta a tannin' comin' ta him."

"I...I dunno...which snake are you talking about?" said Mina desperately .

"Stop playin' word games and tell me where that varmint is!" snapped Ma.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" cried Mina, "I mean, I just went through a puberty spurt, my mood keeps swinging like a revolving door, my face erupts pimples every other hour, and I have no idea what's being going-" Mina suddenly winced as her abdomen cramped badly.

Ma raised her eyebrows and asked, "What are you doin' there?"

"My guts...it hurts...make it stop..." whined Mina, clutching her stomach in pain.

Ma's maternal instincts quickly took over. "Ah, hush now, yer just becomin' a woman is all," said Ma, a lot softer than before.

"Why didn't anyone tell me it would hurt so much?" groaned Mina.

Ma picked up Mina gently and said, "Let me guess, yer goin' through a rapid growth thing?"

"How did you know?" asked Mina. "Happened to me when they first cooked me up in that lab, not that they expected me ta turn out the way I am," said Ma. She took Mina into a side room and sat her down. "Now, if yer gonna be a grown lady so fast, there's a couple of things you ought to know," said Ma.

Mina twitched before her eyes went draconic and she snapped "Are we hunting Draco? He still owes me credits."

Ma sighed, "Not for the moment. This here's a mite more important."

...

"So, why is we fixin' ta blow up the ship?" asked Rhomboid.

"Cause there might be a chance this Draco thing might elude Ma and us," said Octagon, "However, if we were to blow up this whole ship and everything in it, we'd be sure to get him and we'd just pop outta new clones."

"Now that's a bright idea that only a pair like us could think of," said Rhomboid.

"Yeah, Morph couldn't think of a more stupid plan," said a voice behind them.

"Why thanks, wait a minute," said Octagon before seeing Matt and company.

"Now who gave you permission to come on MY SHIP?" snapped Matt, his eyes looking red .

"We did, ah think," said Rhomboid.

"Fair enough, I'm gonna kill you now," said Matt casually, before shifting to Loboan form and letting loose a sonic howl at them .

"We ain't gettin' blown up by a hound dog this early. Let 'im have it, Boid," said Octagon.

Rhomboid reached out into his pocket and pulled out a toy bone which he held out to Matt. "Here, doggy, ya want the nice bone?" asked Rhomboid. Matt just gave him an 'are you kidding' look.

"Not that, the other thing!" snapped Octagon.

"Oh, right," said Rhomboid before pulling a canister out of his pocket and tossing it. The canister landed at Matt's feet before exploding in a cloud of green smoke that caused Matt to yelp and howl . "Whoo, Ah bet that gas smells right nasty," said Rhomboid.

"Which makes it fortunate for us on account of our lack of what you'd call olfactory organs," said Octagon.

"Our what?" asked Rhomboid.

"We don't have noses," said Octagon.

"Shoo...shoot em…" coughed Matt, clearly in pain .

Chris and Rook tried to take aim, but their noses were also be assaulted by the stench and as such it was hard for them to aim straight. Ben spun the dial on the Omnitrix and said, "Ok, this would be a really bad time for Wildmutt, so please work with me."

He slammed the dial down and changed into XLR8. He lowered his face mask and said, "Not what I had in mind, but this will work." With that, he dashed forward towards the Vreedles. The Vreedles turned in time to be knocked flying by XLR8 smashing past them .

"Blast 'im!" said Octagon before the Vreedles opened fire. Of course, XLR8 was too fast for them and soon literally running circles around them. In fact, his constant running caused a small tornado to form and lift up the Vreedles while sucking the gas inwards.

"Might I suggest we cool these two down?" asked Skurd before producing an Articguana-based cannon.

"Not a bad idea," said XLR8 before blasting the tornado with the cannon's freezing breath. When he came to a stop, the Vreedles were both frozen up to their necks at the top of an ice tower.

Matt, now wearing a gas mask that made him look like an idiot, glared, "Can I shoot them now?"

"This is only a bit of a setback," said Octagon.

"Yeah, when Ma gets here, she'll blow you up real good," said Rhomboid.  
"Ok, fatty, where's your mummy?" growled Matt.

"We don't know where she is," said Rhomboid.

"And we wouldn't tell if we knew," said Octagon.  
Matt raised an eyebrow before saying, "Aria, scan for any weird clones of these twits."

"Scanning..." said Aria's voice. Less than a minute passed before Aria's voice said with alarm, "I've detected her in Sector 5 with Ms. Lumina."

"WHAT?" roared Matt, sonic howling the Vreedles . The ice they were imprisoned in shattered and the Vreedles were dumped onto the floor. They didn't seem the worse for wear, though they were shivering from the cold. Matt pointed to Rook and Chris, "You two, chain those guys up and bring them along. We'll see if their mom is willing to trade Mina for her nimrod sons."

"Based on their usual encounters," started Rook before XLR8 hushed and said, "I'll go on ahead." With that, he zipped off.

"Ok, morons, time for a free visit to the brig," said Matt, grabbing one of them.

...

XLR8 shot through the ship, knocking over the odd marine or tech but intent on getting to where Lumina and Ma Vreedle was. "Do even know where Sector 5 is?" asked Skurd.

"A rough idea, but when you're this fast, you can just keep running until you're in the right place," said XLR8. With that, XLR8 kept running until he finally saw a hatch marked 'sector 5', several concussed marines scattered around . "There we go," said XLR8 before zipping inside. He quickly started checking every room he could find.

It only took a few seconds to find the only locked door at the very back of the sector...that and the trail of knocked out crew helped too. XLR8 hammered on the door and said, "Open up in there. We know you're in there, Ma. Come out with Mina before things get ugly."

"You stay outta this. This here's a talk between two women," snapped Ma's voice from inside .

"Ok, Skurd, give me something to bust down the door," said XLR8.

"That does not sound like a good idea," said Skurd, "It's quite rude to bust in during a lady's conversation."

"Oh, don't tell me you believe that. Fine, I'll do it myself," said XLR8 before hitting the Omnitrix and turning into Toepick. He jammed his fingers into the edges of the door and started working it loose, the softening acid from his fingers help quite a bit in that regard.

He had managed to pull open a small hole after a minute, which was quickly filled by one of Ma's blasters. "What did ah say?" she said darkly .

"Mina, keep your eyes shut," said Toepick, "This isn't gonna be pretty." With that, he opened up the door even more before he opened up his helmet.  
Ma glared before firing. "That supposed to scare me?" she snapped.

"What's going on?" asked Mina's voice.

Toepick tried to cover his face while also tried to shield himself from being blasted. "Mina, don't look!" called Toepick.

Sadly it was a bit too late, Mina staring with pinpricked eyes as Toepick, before her fight/flight response decided to vote for 'fight' and she spat a shadow fireball at him . Toepick was sent flying back into a wall and landed with a somewhat squishy thud. "Ow, that hurt," he said before the Omnitrix timed out.

Ma glared at that, effortlessly knocking the door down. "Tennyson. Ah told you to stay out. Ah'm here for that no good lizard and you ain't gettin' in mah way."

"I wouldn't be doing my job if I just let you blow him up," said Ben.

"Ah'm not gonna blow that lounge lizard up," snapped Ma, stomping out, followed by an even more altered Mina who was shaking and staring blankly ahead . By now, Mina had fully blossomed into a young woman, looking to be at the most three years younger than Matt or Chloe.

"What, you're not going to blow up Draco?" asked Ben.

"Nah, talkin' with little Lumina's taken most of the anger outta me. Not ta mention she said that little fella never had a mother of his own. Tweren't all his fault he never learned how to treat a mother right," said Ma Vreedle.

Aria's voice at that said, "I presume that means you are going to cease this attack?"

"Almost," said Ma Vreedle, "That lizard still needs ta be taught a lesson in respect."

"I'm presuming you mean more than washing his mouth out with soap," said Ben.

Ma's grin was more than enough of an answer.

...

"Stop it! You're not tossing me to the wolves!" Draco snapped, hanging onto his doorframe .

"I resemble that remark," grumbled Matt as he pushed on Draco even more.

"It was just a few 'yo mama' jokes. How was I supposed to know they would take it that far?" begged Draco.

"Because they're space hicks," snapped Matt, finally punting Draco .

Draco immediately turned back to the already-closed door and started pounding on it. "Let me out! Let me out! Let me out!" he yelled before pausing to remark, "Wow, that's a really sturdy door."

"It sure is." Draco gulped and turned around to see all three Vreedles, each holding a big wooden paddle. "Time to teach this little snake some manners," said Ma.

...

Matt and Kala winced as the first yelps were heard. "Don't you think this is a little harsh?" said Kala. Matt thought about it before saying, "Nah...now then, Mina. Let's hear your latest demand."

"I want to be treated like an equal member of the crew," said Mina, sounding more self-confident now that she was able to look Matt in the eye without craning her neck, "I'm tired of being dumped on just because I'm too young which I'm clearly not anymore. And I want people to stop going about me being a stowaway. I mean, heck, you and Chloe started out as stowaways." Kala raised an eyebrow at that. "Well, at least that's what I've heard," said Mina.

"No, we were sucked through a portal and found by a search and rescue ship. _You_ stole a uniform and sneaked on board...but you got a point. Technically you're legal age," said Matt, Kala staring in shock .

"But it's only temporary and she's not mentally mature," said Kala cautiously.

"Apparently Mrs. Vreedle has enlightened Lumina as to what it means to be a grown lady," said Matt before wincing as there was a particularly loud crack and Draco let out a pitiful yelp. Then he continued, "And we're definitely going to be finding a way to shrink her back down to her proper age as soon as we can. But, I suppose there's no harm in making her an honorary recruit in the meantime, providing she behaves responsibly."

"Of course," said Mina, saluting, Chloe muttering to herself "Unless she doesn't want to be de-aged…" her eyes glowing .

"So what are we going to do with the Vreedles once they've finished?" asked Kala.

"Well, they did blow up a lot of my crew," said Matt.

"Most of the injuries are non-fatal," said Aria, "Besides, we have such a huge crew now, it hardly matters when we lose some redshirts during our missions."

"Aria, when it's next convenient, I am _ordering_ you to take some leave so you don't lose your compassion," said Matt, "And as for the Vreedles, well, we got any cells that can hold them?"

"Not a chance, sir. Their escape capabilities seems to be their best skill," said Aria .

"Well, they can survive being flushed out into space, can't they?" asked Matt.

"Quite capable," said Aria.

"Good, toss them out the airlock. I'm sure they can figure some way of getting back to Earth," said Matt.

The door opened at that, the Vreedles coming out. "Well, that takes care of business, let's go home," said Ma.

"Ain't we at least gonna rob somebody?" asked Rhomboid.

"We are teeterin' towards what you might call the lower end of financial security," said Octagon.

"You can try. My mood's significantly bad," said Matt, angrily . The boys looked at each other before reaching for their blasters and immediately being pounced on by Matt who went to work on relieving his stress.

"They better be home in time for dinner," said Ma with complete unconcern.

"They should be. Never seen Matt this angry before," said Chris casually .

"Nonsense," said Chloe, "He's been in worse states of rage."

"Just make sure they're in new clones by dinner," snapped Ma, walking past several of the marines who jumped out the way .

"Well, that was nuts," said Kala.

"That's nothing. You're not the one whose mom is friends with her," said Ben, "How's Draco?"

The group peered into the room at that and winced, Matt calling it "MEDIC!"

...

"Not to worry, Draco. With our medical technology, you'll be recovered from your injuries in, oh, a week," said Aria to a full body-casted Draco, "Though your hindquarters may still be sore for a time afterwards."

"I hate you all," groaned Draco in a muffled voice, muffled due to the addition of a full head cast too.

"There, there, it's not so bad," said Morph patting Draco's foot, which of course made Draco let out a muffled yell of pain. "See? He's yelling for joy," said Morph, oblivious as always.

"Well, Draco, at least you may have plenty of company in the form of anyone who tries to make a move on Lumina," said Matt very meaningfully.

"Or you when you get through to Spyro?" said Chloe innocently .

"That goes without saying," said Matt, "But I'm pretty sure this will be fixed before then. Not like anyone here's gonna check on future Avalar if they know what's good for them."

...

Back in her room, which was in a lot better shape now that her mood swings were over, Mina was looking over her new self in her underwear. She had to admit, she was a very attractive woman now. She kept in mind what Ma had said about how other people will look at her, but she was pretty sure nobody was going to get very far, not with Matt around. Still, it was pretty awesome for her to see what she'd look like several years in advance.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. "Just a minute," called Mina before putting her shirt and pants back on. She opened to the door to find Chloe there.

"Hey, girl. Wanted to see how you were doing," said Chloe cheerfully, walking in .

"Fine, I've gotten a new clothes now. Though I don't have really have anything that's..." Mina paused a bit in hesitation.

"It's ok, we're both grown women," said Chloe, "You can be open with me."

"I don't wanna turn back," said Mina quickly, wincing as she expected some angry words .

"Well of course you don't," said Chloe, "I mean, if you were turned back, they'd go right back to treating you like a baby again. And I bet they wouldn't let you keep your Shar nanites either." Mina hung her head at that as Chloe whispered in her ear, "It's not like they can make you..."

"Well, don't I have a say in this?" pointed out Mina.

"You do. It's your body and you're the only Shar on the ship. They can't force you to do anything," said Chloe.

"I'm not the only Shar on the ship," said Mina, "There are other people who got infected when those marauders got onboard, like Lita."

"They'll almost certainly be on your side," said Chloe smoothly .

"I'm not so sure," said Mina.

"Well, you'll have to take up leadership someday, you might as well start on it now," said Chloe, "It'd make your parents proud to see you act more responsible."

Mina stopped. "Proud?" she said quietly.

Chloe grinned, "Very, very proud."

"Well, I suppose I can try to get a bit more support," said Mina.

"That's the spirit...and don't let anyone stop you," said Chloe evilly, petting Mina on the head. Mina blinked as her head felt fuzzy for a moment. "Say, now that you're a grown woman, how about we get a big girl's drink?" suggested Chloe.

Mina shook her head at that, "No thanks. I'm feeling a little woozy."

Chloe shrugged, "Sure...my offer's always there though."

* * *

There's the next chapter. It's a breather chapter, mostly for hilarious Vreedle antics. Though there is an important plot point here with Lumina's rapid maturity. It might take a bit for the full ramifications of this to kick in, but it's definitely setting something up. And, just so you know, Ma not being scared of Toepick was not made up, it has been officially stated that Toepick's face doesn't work on her.

The next chapter might be a bit longer, but it could happen next Friday. Keep an eye out for it because that's where another plot arc starts. Please review or, better yet, share some of your own 'yo mama' jokes, especially if they're Ben 10-based.


	7. Interregnum

**Reticence Saga**

**The Aliens Within**

**Chapter 7: Interregnum**

The Archon was in a rare nostalgic mood. He was scrolling through various data archives of his race. "To be the last of anything is a terrible fate," he said to himself, "But I will rebuild my race."

"That is impossible. The NSC appear to have been very thorough in their purge. No cloning facilities or colonies remain," said the computer calmly.

"I refused to believe that everything is gone," snapped the Archon, "What of that beacon we detected?"

"The beacon is from nanite research colony 41-F. I have finished the translation. It is a quarantine beacon," said the computer calmly

The Archon cursed before asking, "What is the state of the colony?"

"The colony seems to have been devoured. The nanite infected a local insectoid species and uplifted them. The entire sector is under Plumber quarantine," said the computer .

"So that entire system is a death trap now?" asked Archon.

"Not to the extent of Anur Vladias, but yes," said the computer.

"Hmm...check systems, see if my override will works on them," said the Archon thoughtfully .

"Checking..." said the computer before processing the data. After a minute, it said, "Override ineffective, nanite control is completely under the command of queen unit specimens." It displayed an image of a tiny creature that resembled a mechanical cross between a mosquito and a mantis. A note on the side indicated that this image was greatly magnified from the creature's true size.

"Hmm...at least we didn't make stupid nanites," said the Archon with some small pride .

The computer displayed a magnified image of what looked like a microchip, though its transparent appearance and circuitry was much like an insect's wing. "The uplifted insectoid/nanite race have the ability to control and animate technology and large swarms can produce solid shapes and accomplish complex tasks. They are also capable of infecting and controlling several organic races, mostly beings with softer flesh," said the computer.

"Hmm...that's our way in. Prepare a piece of...tempting tech with the override codes. A little...bad apple for them," said the Archon smugly .

"Sir, is it wise to allow these techno-organisms outside of their system?" questioned the computer.

"According to Plumber files, they've breached containment more than several times," said the Archon calmly .

"Plumber files indicate that stopping the swarm from assimilating Earth was an extremely difficult task," noted the computer.

"They didn't have me. I presume they are intelligent," said the Archon .

"They are a hive intelligence, but they may have a few representatives that can be communed with," said the computer.

"Find me one, preferably one who knows what I will do should they try anything," said the Archon calmly .

"This may take some time," said the computer.

"I have nothing but time," said the Archon.

...

"Ok, today's moral: not throwing rubber balls in front of me or Kala," said Matt in a friendly tone, NegaMorph groaning from a recent pummeling .

"You mean we weren't playing dodgeball? You lied to me!" snapped Morph at his darker clone.

"I always lie. It's my thing," snapped NegaMorph .

"One of these days, you're gonna find yourself trying to tell the truth and nobody will believe you," said Kala.

"Oh, I suppose it'll be when I've cried wolf one too many times," said NegaMorph mockingly.

Matt glared at that "Really?" he said darkly

"Oh like you weren't expecting someone to use a 'cry wolf' line eventually," said NegaMorph, "We're practically going through the book." Matt glared before throwing a book at NegaMorph's head .

"Way to throw the book at him," said Morph.

Matt gave him an annoyed look and said, "Ok, captain's order, anyone say any puns within my hearing for the next 24 hours, they're getting a flogging."

"Matt..." said Kala sternly.

"Ok, they just get whacked over the head," said Matt.

"But Matt, I can't ignore the jokes," said Morph, sounding horrified .

"Well, your soft head can take as many blows as it wants, can't it?" said Matt.

"Good point, punch away," said Morph cheerfully .

"Give me a pun first," said Matt as he wound up his arm.

Luckily for Morph, aria interrupted. "Sir, there is a call coming in from Plumber command.

"Can't it wait?" whined Matt.

"No, you'll have to do your stress relief later," said Aria.

"Fine...maybe we'll be lucky and I get to punch something as the job," said Matt darkly.

...

"You want us to check on a SOS in where you just admitted is no man's land?" said Matt skeptically .

"Well, I wouldn't call it no man's land precisely," said Magister Patelliday, "For starters, space isn't that exclusive to just men of any particular species where they can be called 'men'. Then there's the fact that this place is off the charts so it can't be officially called a no man's land."

"And yet this is the kind of place where ships disappear and are never seen again," said Matt pointedly.

Patelliday paused at that before saying "Well..." only for Chloe to call "I knew it. You owe me 20 quid, Chris."

"Find some other redshirt to do it," said Matt.

He was about to hit disconnect when Patelliday said, "Wait a minute, there's a good reason we're asking you to do this, other than the fact that your ship has the best chance of coming back. The SOS came with an embedded message."

"What's it say?" said Matt suspiciously .

"Well, you should see it for yourself," said Patelliday before sending Matt the feed.

The screen showed Matt that immediately made him snarl. "Hello, I seem to have gotten myself into a spot of bother," said the Archon snidely, "If someone could find the time to come out and assist me out of this thicket, I would be most appreciative. Please be prompt about this, my time is very precious." His tone made Matt half-expect him to ask that they'd bring a snack while they were at it.

"That cheeky little sod. Wait, why should we go get him? Why not let the locals eat him? They probably need roughage in their diet," he said darkly .

"Because he's got the mirror which is the only thing that can be reliably used to get rid of the nanites that we've been infected with," said Kala.

"Point taken..." said Matt darkly. "Let's go save the mirror then leave him there," he added with an evil smirk .

"I should point out that there is a high probability that the Archon is setting a trap for us," said Aria.

"I know, but we can't risk our antidote being smashed," said Matt.

"Very well, I shall set course immediately," said Aria.

...

"Ok...we're gonna need experts on these little pains," said Matt as the team walked through the ship .

"There aren't very many people who have been to that sector," pointed out Chris, "Ben and Rook never went there and they're away on other Plumber business anyways."

"Fine, look up who's the most likely guy," said Matt.

"I shall run a filtered search," said Aria. Three seconds later, she said, "I think I have someone you would approve of."

"Oh, where are they?" asked Chloe.

...

The group looked up at the huge university building. "Gwen Tennyson make good," said Matt carefully, he, Chloe and Chris walking across the boundary, Matt twitching as he passed some kids playing Frisbee, nobody noticing luckily .

"Is it me, or is this place a little on the creepy side?" asked Chris, eyeing the several ravens on the statue of Edgar Allen Poe.

"They're just crows," said Chloe cheerfully as they headed for the main door. .

They were passing the school custodian before he suddenly yelled, "STOP!" When the others turned to look at him, he said, "You don't want to use that door. The hinge is broken. You'll want to go in that way."

"Uh...ok," said Matt before they backed away from the guy.

Once they got a far enough distance, Chris said, "I'm starting to question Gwen's choice in coming here."

"So...why's this place so superstitious?" said Chloe, the trio walking along.

Just then, a strong wind started stirring up. The three of them looked upwards to see what appeared to be a fairy woman wearing a pale pink costume and translucent silver wings flutter above them. "Friedkin University, bow to the incredible power of Sylphia," called the fairy in a voice so high-pitched, it sounded like she was on helium.

Matt, Chloe and Chris looked at one another before Matt said dully "Are you serious, lady?"

"It is not wise to not take Sylphia seriously," said the fairy.

"Yeah, I don't think there's a single guy 'wise' enough to take you seriously," said Chris dully.

A pink blast shot out at that, charring Matt's head. "Ok...impressive, I'll give you that, our turn," he said darkly, the trio drawing plasma blasters. "PULL!" yelled Matt, before they opened fire .

Sylphia yelped before flying away around rapidly to avoid the blasts. "Have to admit, she's fast," said Chloe.

"I miss my plasma powers, then I could just eat her," said Matt calmly, before saying, "Ooooh...almost got her there." Then Sylphia started spinning around, causing a very strong wind to form and blow them the three of them backwards. "Ok...that's annoying," groaned Matt, deactivating his holocloak to shift to Loboan form, cracking his neck.

Sylphia stopped spinning and said, "Ooh, what a big nasty doggy. I've got something to take care of you." With that, she threw a red powder at Matt which sparkled a tiny bit.  
Mat laughed at that before yelping as his snout felt like it was on fire. "What did you do, you little powder puff?" he snapped .

"I cast a spell on you," said Sylphia.

"Oh please, you barely know anything about real magic," said another voice. Sylphia turned around to see a purple-skinned girl in a blue outfit and mask with pink energy hair.

"Lucky Girl, we meet at last," said Sylphia with relish.

"We've met before, Mable, do you really have to wring out every bit of drama out these things?" asked Lucky Girl, sounding really unimpressed.

"Erm...about that spell..." said Matt, slightly worried .

"It's just some cayenne powder, you'll be find," called Lucky Girl.

Matt sneezed at that, the burning clearing before he started snarling. "You put chili powder up my nose? Everything'll smell of Tex Mex combo for a week..." he snarled before sending a sonic howl at Mable.

Sylphia was knocked out of the air by that, her wings shattered by the blast. A glowing pink platform appeared under her and caught her safely.

Matt grinned manically and started striding towards her before a rock bounced off his head, snapping him out of it. "You are so lucky we're only here to find Gwen, you little pipsqueak otherwise I'd bite you," he said darkly .

"Uh, Gwen isn't here at the moment," said Lucky Girl, suddenly making her voice sound a bit deeper, "But I'm sure if you'll wait a while you'll see her eventually." Chloe turned to look at that, briefly getting a mad grin before looking innocent. "Well, I better leave Mable here for the authorities to pick up," said Lucky Girl before having her platform tie up Mable and flying off.  
Chris sniffed the air at that. "Hey, you smell fami-" he began before a group of students trampled him on the way over to Lucky Girl, Chloe somehow avoiding them.

While several students crowded around Mable, Matt found himself by several students snapping pictures and such. "Do you mind?" he said, a couple of jocks repeatedly taking shots of him, repeating himself a little angrier. "I said...do you mind?" he snapped .

Apparently, the students here were avid monster fans as Matt was able to make out several werewolf-related questions among the senseless chatter. Some of them were even pulling at his fur to see if it was real. That ended after one too many camera flashes resulted in him snatching the camera and chewing it to bits in his mouth. "Now sod off," he said darkly .

Fortunately, that made the students back off, though one did complain loudly about his phone being broken. "Go away or I bite you next and screw outbreaks." roared Matt, causing them to scatter .

Unfortunately, some of them ran over Chris again. "Ok, I officially do not like this place," groaned Chris.

"That applies to harassing my companions," roared Matt, before looking around to see Lucky Girl had vanished. "Oh bum," he muttered .

"Oh, I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing her again soon," said Chloe confidently.

"Yeah...ten quid says it's Gwen," said Chris, rubbing his head to remove a headache from all the camera flashes .

"What makes you think it's Gwen?" asked Matt.

Both Chloe and Chris raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh come on, you can't be _that_ bad at guessing," said Chloe.

Matt raised an eyebrow before turning on his holocloak. "Ok, I will bow, it probably is. Let's go find her so I can get out of this monster-obsessed nut house."

Not long later, a familiar redhead came running towards the group. "Hey, I heard you guys were looking for me," said Gwen.

"Yeah, well done on that weirdo," said Matt smoothly .

"What weirdo? Oh, you mean Sylphia. I heard Lucky Girl took care of her with a little help," said Gwen.

"Yes, we're lucky. It's amazing how you knew it happened when you were nowhere near," said Chloe smugly, Chris saying "We only look stupid."

"It makes a pretty good disguise," muttered Chloe.

Matt glared at Chloe at that before saying, "You're secret's save with us. Look, we kinda need yours and Kevin's help. We're gonna find and pick him up later..."

"He's probably working on that car of his," said Gwen, "Unless he's gone to Khoros for more parts, he should be in his garage."

"Wait...he's out the big house?" said Matt .

"Well, duh, he's been legit for..." Gwen paused and said, "Wait, there's something different about you."

Matt grinned, "No spoilers...and don't ask."

"Time travel, is it?" asked Gwen.

"Pretty much," admitted Chloe .

"Ok, that's all I want to hear," said Gwen, "Why do you need me and Kevin?"

"We're on the trail of pure evil and its hiding in a system controlled by some kinda anti-tech monster," said Matt .

"Why aren't you asking for Ben then?" asked Gwen.

"He's busy with some other Plumber stuff," said Chris, "But Kevin's known to be a well-traveled guy."

"Sure, most criminals are," said Chloe earning a glare from everyone, "Ok, bad choice, but we still need people we can trust on the trip."

"Well, Kevin is trustworthy, most of the time," said Gwen, "Come on, I'll take you to him."

"Ok...lead the way," said Matt.

...

Kevin's garage looked pretty run down a little. "So...business is slow?" said Chloe .

"Well, he had to change garages after the Rooters shot up the first one," said Gwen.

"The who?" asked Matt.

"Not supposed to tell you," said Gwen.

"Ok, I'll file that under random nutters," said Matt, walking up to the door and knocking, "Oi, Kevin."

There was barking on the other side of the door at that. "He got a dog?" asked Chris.

"Technically," said Gwen.

"Kevin, open the damn door before I play big bad wolf with the door. I'VE HAD A BAD WEEK!" snapped Matt .

The door opened and immediately what Matt at first thought was a big dog tackled him. But then he noticed it was covered in blue scales and had serrated jaws. The dog creature growled at him before sniffing him closely and then licking him. "Erm...good...dinosaur dog of death," yelped Matt weakly, petting it .

Just then, Kevin walked out and said, "Matt, didn't think you were in this part of the galaxy."

"He's not supposed to be," said Gwen, "Apparently there's some sort of time travel going on."

Kevin rubbed his forehead and said, "Time travel's such a pain. That's why I never get involved with it."

"Yeah...coming from the person who got involved in a major Sy-Yong outbreak," said Chris under his breath .

"So what brings you here?" asked Kevin.

"Well, we need to head through a certain sector of space and you're the most reliable guy who's known to have been near it," said Chloe.

"Oh? Which one?" asked Kevin.

Matt looked at his wrist comp, "Sector 31-Z."

Kevin frowned and said, "You guys know that place is bad news, right? Even Xenon didn't get as bad a rep as that place. That place is like the Bermuda Pyramid squared."

"Wow, geometry-based warnings, I'm rigid with fear," said Chloe dryly.

"Chloe, cut the sass. What's got into you?" snapped Matt before saying, "There's something there we need urgently."

"It has to be really urgent if you want to go there," said Kevin.

Matt sighed. "The devices owner did THIS!" he said, in a tired voice, turning his cloak off, adding, "And while I was feral I passed on the fun to Kai."

"Oh boy," said Kevin.

"And you think this guy would really fly into Sector 31-Z?"

"Not fully, but he ought to have left some kind of trail," said Matt.

"Also he sent us a message gloating that he was there," added Chloe

"That seems like an obvious trap to me," said Gwen.

"I know, but it's best to go into a trap prepared," said Matt.

"Which is why we're bringing enough firepower to blow up Saturn...again," said Chris, adding the last part in an embarrassed tone, "CPS Christmas party, don't ask."

"But how would you have restored-" started Gwen.

"I said don't ask," said Chris.

Matt shuddered. "So much lint," he said in a distant voice .

"The thing is, whatever lives in Sector 31-Z is drawn to technology. The only way you can get out of there is if you've got fast engines," said Kevin, "I also here that any cyborg or robot that goes there is a goner."

"Erm...I only have one arm," said Matt, tapping his robotic arm for emphasis .

"Yeah, that's gonna have to stay behind," said Kevin.

"No! That's my good hand!" snapped Matt, stepping back .

"Matt, you're right-handed," pointed out Chloe.

"I like rifles," moaned Matt, before yelling, "LOOK, VILGAX!" pointing behind them before trying to leg it .

Chloe tripped him up before he could get far and said, "Don't be such a baby. You can go one day without your left arm."

"Maybe I can make a temporary replacement," said Gwen.

"Yes, I agree with that," snapped Matt .

"Kevin, you can fashion an arm out of stone or wood, right?" asked Gwen.

"Should be easy," said Kevin before touching a wooden table. What looked like a layer of wood flowed up his arm and over his body.

"I didn't know he could do that," said Chris as Kevin picked up a few sticks of wood and slid his wooden layer off of him and onto the sticks, molding them into a wooden arm.

"It's an Osmosian trick, I'm guessing you guys must be from the past," said Kevin.

"Yeah, look, just be careful. This was attached with surgery," said Matt carefully, pointing out where the arm was melded to the skin.

"No socket joint?" asked Kevin as he looked it over, "Hmm, not sure how to get it off."

"Maybe just covering it in a layer of another material will work," said Gwen.

"That'd work," said Chris tapping Matt's arm .

"Yeah, but can I get something a bit more sturdy than wood or stone?" asked Matt.

"I suppose I can get you a taedenite covering, but it's gonna cost ya," said Kevin.

"Is there laws against extorting people from the past?" said Matt darkly .

"Taedenite isn't cheap," said Kevin.

"Kevin..." said Gwen meaningfully.

"Alright, fine," said Kevin, "But you'll have a big IOU in the future."

"That's future me's problem." said Matt

"Fair enough, be right back," said Kevin before walking into the back.

While they waited, Chloe turned to Gwen and asked, "So, are you and Kevin..."

"Chloe, no spoilers," snapped Matt .

"What? Even you could have picked up the hints," said Chloe.

"No spoilers," snapped Matt.

Kevin came back at that luckily, a green gem in his grasp. "Ooooh...shiny," said Matt, looking at it with the look of a merc encountering alot of cash .

"And tough," said Kevin before a crystalline cover appeared over him, "Go ahead, give me your best shot." Matt looked at Chris and Chloe who both shrugged, the trio taking aim before firing . The blasts knocked Kevin back a bit, but his surface was unmarred. "Nothing's tougher than taedenite," said Kevin.

"I might have seen some other indestructible materials that could contest," said Matt.

"Ok, it's a road trip," said Chloe cheerfully, her eyes changing color briefly. Gwen felt an odd presence in the mana field and turned to look at Chloe, but her eyes had changed back to normal by then. "Is there something on my face?" said Chloe sweetly.

"Sorry, thought I sensed something weird," said Gwen.

"Well, get ready for more," said Chloe darkly.

...

Chloe seemed a bit surprised and disappointed that Gwen saw the experiments onboard the ship and didn't raise so much as an eyebrow. "You aren't shocked? I mean, the white blob's sticking his ear up his nose and back out his ear," she said, in shock .

"I've known Morph for years," said Gwen, "Well, not straight years fortunately."

Chloe nodded. "O-of course," she said quickly before walking off.

"Does Chloe seem a bit...off?" asked Gwen.

"I've been noticing that for a while," said Matt, "I wonder what's been going on with her."

...

Chloe slammed into her room, staggering to a mirror and gripping it, her disguise failing and Betrayl appearing. "Ok...ok...get a grip...you gotta keep it together," she said .

"Those little mutants can be really taxing on your psyche, can't they?" asked her reflection.

"Shut up. You're not real," snapped Chloe .

"Of course I'm real. You're the one who's fake," said Betrayl's reflection, "We established that ages ago."

Chloe/Betrayl glared, "I'm not crazy. Now stop it. I gotta keep a grip."

"What are you trying to prove with this masquerade? That you're a better sister than Chloe?" asked Betrayl's reflection.

"I am his sister!" snapped Chloe/Betrayl .

"You haven't been real open to the rest of the family," said Betrayl's reflection, "You made your future sister-in-law rabid and you've barely interacted with Hannah. Admittedly, even I'm confused about our relationship with her. Not to mention our dear fathers still stuck as an overgrown lawn ornament."

"Why should we care about him?" snapped Chloe/Betrayl.

"Because he's family," said the reflection with a smirk .

"If you can call him that," said Chloe/Betrayl dismissively.

"Blood is thicker than water and I think you're forgetting what blood is flowing through you," said Betrayl's reflection.

"Oh yeah, well I bet I can make it fine on my own without you or any of your craziness!" snapped Chloe/Betrayl.

Betrayl's reflection raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh, would you like to make a wager on it?"

"You're on!" snapped Chloe/Betrayl, her eyes looking manic .

"Fine then, let's see how long you can make it without my help at all," said Betrayl's reflection.

"Piece of cake," said Chloe/Betrayl confidently.

"Ah, ah, zero help, that includes magical help. You wanna prove you're a better Chloe? Then be exactly as she ought to be: no dragon powers, no elemental powers, especially no magic powers, just a plain boringly-simple human," said Betrayl's reflection, "Think you can handle that?"

"Hey, no fair!" snapped Chloe/Betrayl .

"Nothing comes without strings," said Betrayl's reflection as she played with strings that appeared in her claws, "The real Chloe is as human as can be right now, unless someone's been having fun with her." The strings in her hands to the shape of a wolf's head.

"You know I haven't touched her beyond shutting off her nanites," said Chloe/Betrayl.

"Well then, if Chloe has to adapt to be a normal human, so do you. Unless you don't think you can handle it," said Betrayl's reflection, the strings now showing a shape of a chicken.

"Oh shut up. I'll show you...I mean me...GAAAH!" snapped Betrayl, sending a blast of chaos magic that reduced the mirror to molten slag before she changed back to her disguise .

Chloe's hands were still flaring with magic when her own voice whispered in her ears, "Remember, no powers. If you feel like throwing in the towel, feel free to come crying to me." Instantly, the magic in her hands snuffed out and despite her efforts, Chloe couldn't draw it out again.

She glared before grabbing a blaster off the desk. "I'll show me, I'm not crazy," she snapped to herself .

...

When Chloe returned to the hanger, she noticed that Kevin's ship was there as well. "I'm guessing we're carpooling on this one," she said.

"Smaller the ship, less chance we lose ANOTHER frigate." said Matt, yelling the word 'another'; loud enough to make everyone jump.

"Sore point," whispered Techo to Gwen

"Well, I wish you luck with your quest," said Chip.

"You're not coming?" asked Chloe.

"To a place where cyborgs disappear without a trace? No thank you. Even if that didn't apply to cyborgs, I still wouldn't want to go there. Watch this," said Chip before turning to a group of spiderbots that were fiddling with another ship's wing, "Hey, you guys want to go to Sector 31-Z?" The spiderbots made hissing sounds like cats before quickly scurrying away.

"Being a Loboan isn't that bad," said Matt nervously at that .

"Trust me, with what you guys will be dealing with, you'll want those nanites out of your system," said Kevin.

"Nanites should be ok...unless they suck blood," said Techo .

"Techo, maybe this isn't the best mission for you to be on," said Chris.

"Go to somewhere that even the spiderbots won't go to? Not a chance!" snapped Techo .

"Well said," said Chip.

"Uh, aren't we part machine too?" asked NegaMorph.

"We are?" asked Morph, "I forgot that."

"The biggest difference is that your machine parts can be removed like such," said Chris before grapping the Morphs' spines and yanking out the Techpaks in them. The two of them quivered before falling over on the floor.

"I've fallen and I can't get up," said Morph.

"Quick...before they regenerate. Everyone on the ship!" called Matt .

"Uh, I think I've changed my mind about-" started Draco.

"Too late," said Chris before tossing him inside.

...

The ship flew towards the edge of the system, the Novus Star following, though this was as far as it went, the ship slowing as the warning beacons came into view .

"As a precautionary measure, you will dock up with one of our freighters before returning to the Novus Star itself," said Aria, "We don't want to bring back anything unwanted onto the ship."

"Great...just like that first Alien film," said Matt darkly .

"That's just a movie," said Gwen.

"No, it's a reenacted documentary," said Chris, "At least, in our side of the multiverse."

"Yeah...including the facehuggers," said Matt darkly .

Gwen looked rather freaked out by that, but Kevin said, "Don't worry. Those aliens don't live anywhere near here and it wouldn't make any sense for them to be the monsters living in Sector 31-Z."

"Yeah...xenomorphs don't bother with tech," said Matt cheerfully .

"Right. We just have to zip into that sector, scan for that Archon creep and any trail he left, and zip out," said Chloe.

Chris nodded, looking with a bored look at the automated message from the beacons. "Guys...what's a technovore?" he called .

"Where'd you hear that?" asked Chloe.

"The beacons just send a message, 'Warning, this area contains technovores, turn around now'," said Chris, "Seems like a pretty straightforward warning, something only the reckless would ignore."

"Then what are we?" said Matt dryly.

"Idiots," said Chloe promptly .

"Well, 'technovore' is the unofficial name for whatever's in that sector," said Kevin, "There might be other species that might be considered technovores, like the Mechamorphs, but nobody knows enough about the ones in that sector."

"Great. So we're first contact lunch," said Matt .

"Do you want to get that mirror or not?" said Chloe pointedly.

"Fine...but if we get eaten, I'm turning in my notice," snapped Matt .

"Can we get this over with already?" snapped Draco, "Listening to you guys is worse than the technovores."

"SILENCE! I'm the captain!" snapped Matt .

"But this is my ship," said Kevin. "Which I'm chartering at the moment," snapped Matt.

The rest of the trip went along these lines, pure anarchy and at least one black eye for Matt, until they finally came out of hyperspace at a desert planet, the signal coming from it

While life-readings were minimal, indicating that weren't any advanced lifeforms here, there was definitely something off with this planet considering a lot of its surface was silvery blue. Matt looked at a scanner before saying confused, "Ok...this is weird. Scans say the planets a perfect sphere, smooth as a baby's butt."

"That can't be possible," said Gwen, "Not even any craters from meteorite impacts?"

"Nothing at all..." said Matt, double checking the scan.

"So maybe this place is artificial," said Chris.

"Oh sure, like someone would want to make a perfectly round desert," said Chloe dryly.

"It's not sand..." said Matt before screaming as Morph popped up and yelled "IT'S A SPACE STATION!" Morph was immediately treated to quite a bit of pounding from Matt, not that he minded at all.

After a minute, Matt said darkly, "Ok...where's NegaMorph too? You two are always together."

"No we're not," said Morph, "We do plenty of things away from each other. Though this time doesn't count since he did sneak along too."

"NEGAMORPH!" yelled Matt .

"Oh, like he'll come when you yell for him," said Chloe dryly.

"NEGAMORPH! GET OUT HERE OR I'LL TELL EVERYONE ABOUT MR FLUFFIKINS!" snapped Matt .

NegaMorph stuck his head out of Matt's shadows and said, "I think you're mixing up your blackmail materials."

"SILENCE!" snapped Matt before pulling NegaMorph out and beating him up.  
Gwen raised an eyebrow as Matt started bouncing NegaMorph's head off a bulkhead. "He's really highly strung over this," she commented before NegaMorph was smashed against the controls, Matt, in his anger sending a sonic blast at him .

Of course, this did a lot more damage to the controls than to NegaMorph. "Warning, navigation disabled, crash imminent," said the ship's computer.

"Erm...oops?" said Matt innocently as everyone glared, except Morph who cheered and NegaMorph who gibbered something about the giant pumpkin .

"Matt, remind me to have the anger portion of your brain removed when we get back," snapped Chloe.

"That's if we survive," said Matt, the ground coming up...before it seemed to form up into a hand that grabbed the ship gently .

"Ok, that's a new twist," said Chris a bit numbly.

"Hey...look...bugs...I HATE BUGS!" snapped Matt, his eyes going bug-eyed, Chris and Kevin dogpiling him before he could blast the windscreen.

"What bugs? I don't see any bugs," said Draco as he looked out the windscreen, "Just a bunch of chips."

"They've got wings. THEY'RE BUGS! BURN THEM ALL!" screamed Matt before Kevin hit him on the head .

"He's even worse than Rath," said Kevin.

A buzzing noise came through the ship at that. "Leave this vessel," said a monotone voice .

"Do we have the option of saying 'no'?" asked Chris. When the ship started to bend around them, Chris shouted, "That was rhetorical!"

"PURGE THE BUGS!" yelled Matt, before part of the cloud formed into a rolled-up newspaper shape and whacked him into the ground as soon as he charged out the door.

"Has his temper been that bad since he's been made into a Loboan or is this normal for him?" asked Gwen.

"He's exactly how he was when we last travelled with you and Ben," said Chris calmly, wincing as the cloud whacked Matt as he twitched .

"Huh, I don't remember it like that," said Gwen.

"Uh, hello, giant swarm of bugs threatening to crush in very ironic fashion?" pointed out NegaMorph.

"Surrender," ordered the swarm again .

"Uh, I think we ought to do what they say," said Chris.

The group nodded and slowly walked out the ship, the cloud separating, one flying up to Gwen, staring closely . Gwen flinched back out of instinct. Up close, the 'bugs' looked a bit more like microchips, though their shape and transparency was somewhat similar to gnats. "We remember you," said the swarm .

"Uh, Kevin, I think we've seen these things before," said Gwen.

"Kevin Levin. Gwen Tennyson. You stopped us," said the swarm coldly .

"Oh, great, we found the nanochip homeworld," said Kevin dryly.

"That is the name you and our new queen gave us," said the swarm in a matter-of-fact voice .

"Uh, these guys haven't attempted to take over Earth previously, have they?" asked Chris.

"Only a couple of times," said Kevin casually .

"And we landed in a giant nest of them. Is it too late to go home now?" asked Draco.

There was a crackling noise and the ship's door was covered over with nanochips. "Yeah, I'd say so," said Chloe, readying a finger click before remembering that was out of the question .

"And I'm betting that Archon guy is nowhere near this place," said NegaMorph dryly.

"Archon?" said a female voice at that.

A mound materialized among the nanochips before a face formed in it. "Hey, is that-" started Kevin before Gwen put a gag over his mouth.

"Oh...the queen bee," said Matt darkly .

"Correction, the next queen-in-line," said the face as a vaguely feminine form appeared from beneath the face, "Until we have located the current queen, I act in her stead."

"Well, none of us know or care. Tell me where the Archon is and I won't ask Darkrift to EMP this planet," snapped Matt, not in the mood to mess around .

The Regent glared at Matt and suddenly he was up to his neck in the nanochips. "We do not take kindly to those who threaten us," said the Regent crossly, "You will watch your tone or we shall demonstrate the numerous ways we have learned to deal with organic life."

"Sure...cause a universe-ending paradox," gasped Matt .

"We were informed if your chronal displacement," said the Regent before turning to Gwen and Kevin, "But you two were not mentioned."

"Oh...didn't think of that," said Matt gloomily .

Gwen and Kevin backed away as the Regent peered closely at them. "You recognize this face and voice, you know who our queen is," she said, "Where is she? Tell us!"

"Tell us where the Archon is," replied Matt, sarcastically .

"Silence," said the Regent as the nanochips tightened around Matt's neck.

Chloe glared, readying a finger click. She could deal with the entire hive by turning them into potato chips in one go...before she remembered the deal with herself .

"Where is our queen?" demanded the Regent as the nanochips swirled around Gwen and Kevin.

"You'll never get her! I'm not giving up without a fight!" yelled Morph before shifting into Zapp and flying off. Fortunately, the Regent's attention shifted to him and the nanochips started swarming after him.

Chloe stared, looking at her fingers. "How..." she began before Matt grabbed her "Enough talk, back to the ship. The Archon can stay here and be eaten for all I care."

"But the mirror-" started NegaMorph.

"Is as likely to be here as the Eiffel Tower!" snapped Matt before tossing him into the ship.

The group got on board at that, Chloe stopping, "Wait...what about Morph?" Everyone turned to see Morph running for the ship, screaming about puppets. "Time to go," she said before scrambling inside.

Morph jumped through the door just as it closed, Morph saying, "Hey, you accidentally nearly shut me out."

Chloe nodded. "Yes...accidentally," she muttered darkly .

The nanochips swarmed at the ship as it tried to take off. Kevin busily tried to get the ship's controls back in working order, though the worst of the damage had been fixed. "Faster, faster, FASTER!" gibbered Matt as the nanochips began to try and break through the armor .

"I'm going as fast as I can!" snapped Kevin as he started booting the ship up.

Chloe screamed, "WE'RE GONNA BE EATEN BY CALCULATORS!"

Just then, the engines fired on at the ship took off faster than anyone who wasn't already buckled in could react. Most of the nanochips flew off from the sudden speed, the ship flying off and out the atmosphere .

Matt gave a sigh of relief and said, "Phew, finally safe."

"Uh, aren't we heading towards those asteroids awfully fast?" asked Chloe.

"Actually, I think they're heading towards us," said NegaMorph.

"Erm...I do believe they are," said Matt weakly, a cluster of asteroids in orbit starting towards them .

"And I'm betting they're infested with nanochips," said Chris.

"I think we should go the other way. Preferably back to the ship at high speed," said Matt weakly .

"Starting up warp drive," said Kevin as he punched in the coordinates. The smallest of the asteroids, mere meteorites, started bouncing against the ship's hull as the largest ones started to close in.

Chloe gibbered at that, the ship starting to creak as she heard her reflection say, "My, aren't we in trouble? Give up?"

"I'm not giving in that easily!" snapped Chloe, everyone else too busy with their current predicament to notice Chloe yelling at her reflection.

"Hmm...we can breathe in space but they can't. Though I predict the nanochips will probably use them for spare carbon before that happens," said the reflection conversationally, checking her talons .

"We can make out of this perfectly well without your help! I'm caving in at the first sign of-" snapped Chloe before the ship rocked as a larger meteorite hit it, causing everyone to stagger. Chloe was knocked over and whacked her head against the wall, knocking her clean out.

The reflection rolled her eyes. "I am such a klutz," she muttered before clicking her talons.

Suddenly, it seemed like the ship's power supply went into overdrive before it literally rocketed through space, scattering space rocks around it. Everyone was thrown off their feet at that. "KEVIN, HIT THE BRAKES!" yelled Matt .

"We can't. We're going too fast. We have to slow down," Kevin managed to say as he was pressed back by the G-forces.

"Smeg that! I order you to stop!" yelled Matt. Kevin slowly reached out for the emergency brake and pulled it. Everything yanked to a stop, the Morphs being shot forward through their seatbelts while Matt's gave way. All three of them collided headed first into each other and then the dashboard.

"Ow...did we win the ball game, mummy?" groaned Matt from the bottom of the pile .

"Last stop already?" groaned NegaMorph.

"This is Novus Star flight control...back already?" said Mina's voice, adding, "I was allowed to be in charge of flight control."

"We had a little problem with local pests, but we'll be heading back in now," said Kevin.

"Ah, ah, you have to get on the frigate first for screening and sanitizing," said Mina's voice.

Kevin nodded as Matt groaned, "What frigate?"

"The one we rode halfway here," said Gwen, "You must have taken a bad hit to the head."

"He's not the only one," said Chris with worry as he looked over the unconscious Chloe.

Matt poked her, causing Chloe to mutter, "Yes, I'd love some chocolate milk."

"Well, she's either badly concussed, been a part of severe time manipulation, or has an Arturian brain tick in her head," said Kevin.

Matt stared at Kevin at that as Gwen gently checked the back of Chloe's head. "It's the concussion," she said .

"Could have been the time thing," said Kevin.

"Not funny," growled Matt, "Let's get her to the frigate's medbay stat."

...

The frigate itself only had a skeleton crew for the moment, Aria having decided to, in her own words 'not waste valuable crew'.

As the group waited for Chloe's head condition to be examined, Gwen said to Morph, "That was a pretty impressive gambit you pulled, making the nanochips think you had the queen."

"Well nobody's getting my Freezy Queen," said Morph before pulling out a milkshake maker from...somewhere.  
Matt turned on Gwen and Kevin at that. "Ok, what's going on? That thing nearly ate us and almost destroyed the universe with a paradox." he said annoyed

"Nanochips live for only one thing: spreading around," said Kevin, "Those things caused a lot of problems on Earth and that was only a fraction of the bugs they got back there."

"That doesn't explain the whole 'where's my queen?'," snapped Matt .

"Well, the nanochips that came to Earth had a queen and it's currently living in one of our...old friends," said Gwen.

"Let me guess, she's been trying to terraform the Earth or something?" asked Chris.

"No, I'm pretty sure she's overcome that part," said Gwen.

"She's just a tech thief now," said Kevin, "Not a lot of ambition, but I'm guessing the word 'abdicate' doesn't exist in those bugs' vocabulary."

"Start from the beginning, this is making my head hurt," groaned NegaMorph.

...

_Ben, Gwen, and Kevin had to jump aside as a shimmering metal tentacle nearly crushed them. "Elena, stop this, this isn't what you want!" called Ben._

_The cloud of nanochips briefly parted to reveal a feminine, vaguely-humanoid form. "This is what I want. The nanochips only want what I want. And what I want is you for myself," it said._

_"No, it's what the nanochips are making you think you want," said Gwen, "You're better than this, we know you are."_

_"If you could believe it," muttered Kevin before having to dodge a thrown mailbox._

_"Ok, it looks like I'll have to be a bit rougher," said Ben before slapping his Omnitrix and turning into AmpFibian._

_Elena sent a cascade over AmpFibian and said, "You cannot defy the fall power of the hive._

_But before the nanochips could completely cover him, AmpFibian gave off a shock which drove them away. "You're not choking me this time, no mouth on this form. At least not in the usual place," said AmpFibian, "I'm gonna warn you one last time: stop the nanochips or I stop you."_

_"You can't stop me," said Elena before spreading out more nanochips._

_"For a former scientist, you seem to easily forget about metal conducting electricity," said AmpFibian before shooting lightning bolts at her._

_A thick wall of nanochips rose up before they could get close to her. "My nanochips can protect me from anything. I am their queen." Just then, a mana bubble rose up around her, cutting her off from the swarm. The nanochips changed direction and tried to get back through the bubble, though AmpFibian fried them before they could succeed._

_"Sorry, Elena, it's for your own good," said Gwen, who was maintaining the bubble._

_"You think your puny bubble can hold me?" snapped Elena before it was lowered for an instant and a tiara-like device was slapped to her forehead._

_"Not for long, but this neural inhibitor will make sure you don't do anything until you're in jail where you belong," said Kevin._

_Elena glared and said, "You will pay for this someday. You won't be able to protect Ben forever."_

...

"So...she basically tried to take over the world," said Matt calmly .

"She's gotten better," said Gwen.

"If by 'better' you mean, 'more self-interested and less wanting to conquer', yeah," said Kevin.

"And she still has that doom queen in her head," snapped Matt, adding, "And you didn't think to bring this up?"

"Like we knew that sector was the nanochip home system," said Kevin, "If I knew that, I would have charged extra, those nanochips are nothing but bad news."

"At least we're clear. We'll drop an EMP bomb on them when we get back to the Novus Star. The paradox thing doesn't go both ways," said Matt darkly, walking out the medibay .

"Well, at least come out of that completely empty-handed," said NegaMorph, "The Archon was in that system or has made contact with them. We could probably pick up a trace of his ship."

The group headed out at that, not noticing a pebble falling from the ship . The pebble would have warranted no attention if it hadn't unfolded into a tiny insectoid creature which soon burrowed its way into the floor.

The creature immediately went to work, examining the circuitry, before finding an old tool and using it to reproduce, sending one to touch a piece of tech. The increasing number of nanochip drones devoured the tech before they were prompted by their leader. The information about the lost queen's location was somewhere close and they had to find it.

A crack, caused the leader to look to see several of the drones that had consumed some of the circuitry rusting badly, some falling apart, a crude booby trap . Seizing this vessel was not going to be straightforward. They would have to use the organic crew to get what they wanted.

Another drone, having gone ahead was also transmitting something rather bad, a spiderbot of all things. It was an unknown variant but it was certainly their predator. And where there was one spiderbot, there are always dozens more. The nanochips will have to multiply quickly to deal with them.

However, not all the tech was to be eaten. The ship was needed intact...

...

Meanwhile, Kevin was helping out with picking up the Archon's warp trail. "I guess it's a good thing nobody comes near this place," said Kevin, "Otherwise, it'd take forever to pick out one trail out of hundreds."

The ship's computer stated calmly, "Target located. Course to sector 474 confirmed."

"Finally, we're getting somewhere," said Matt.

"Warning...contaminants detected...quarantine protocol 6 now in effect...jump drive disabled...hangers locking down," said the computer at that, several red lights appearing .

"Hey, I took a bath three days ago!" protested Morph.

"Cascade failures detected on decks 3, 5 and 7. All personnel to alert status red," said the computer sternly .

"Uh, does that mean what I think it means?" asked NegaMorph.

"Yep, we got pests," said Chris grimly.

"Termites?" asked Morph.

"Nanochips..." said Matt darkly .

"Techno-termites," said Morph.

"Everyone, grab an EM gun. We gotta fumigate," said Matt sternly

...

Mina wasn't experienced enough to participate in the bug hunt, though to her, it did sound as exciting as it implied. So instead, she went to the medbay to check on Chloe.

A medibot drone turned as she walked in. "The patient is resting," it said calmly, floating into her way only to be swatted aside by her .

"I'm not going to wake her up," snapped Mina before looking at Chloe whose head was wrapped in gauze, "Not that I think I could wake her up." The medibot floated away at that, back to its charge alcove as Mina sat next to Chloe. "Man, you guys sure get beaten up a lot," she said casually, not expecting a reply and not seeing a reflection watching her that didn't have a corresponding real version .

Betrayl had found a downside to allowing her nicer half to maintain a mortal body; she was bound to that body and its limitations. Namely that she couldn't go anywhere while Chloe was unconscious. "Urgh...so boriiiing…" she said out loud to herself.

Mina paused and looked around. "Is someone there?" she asked.  
Betrayl covered her mouth at that, moving herself out of sight before getting an idea, slowly moving her reflection along the floor towards Mina's .

"Weird, I thought I heard Chloe's voice," said Mina, "Wait, maybe I'm picking up her thoughts with telepathy. I didn't know I could do that yet."

"You did...I just need to...borrow something," said Betrayl evilly, moving her reflection over Mina's, a flash of light occurring as Mina's real body and Betrayl's reflection touched...before Betrayl was standing where Mina had been. "Ow...dragons...so uptight," she said, cracking her neck before seeing the medibot floating off the alcove.

"Identify yourself," it demanded .

"Cadet Lumina," said Betrayl smoothly.

"Negative..." said the medibot, hovering towards an alarm button .

Betrayl looked down at herself and said, "Oops, how embarrassing." She tried to shift to Mina's form, but changing another's body was harder than she anticipated. So she zapped the medibot before it could press the button instead.

The door opened at that, Matt walking in saying "When's Chloe gonna...be?" he said, his voice trailing off as he saw Betrayl in all her glory.

"Don't you ever knock?" snapped Betrayl.

"Well...aren't you supposed to be in DARKRIFT custody?" said Matt coldly, seeing the alarm out the corner of his eye .

"I got out on good behavior," said Betrayl as a little halo appeared over her head.

"Somehow I don't believe that. Trying to replace the real deal?" said Matt coldly, edging towards the button while nodding in Chloe's direction .

A wry smile appeared on Betrayl's face as she said, "Wow, you've actually made a right guess. That's quite an accomplishment."

"So...what's with stalking me? That's a little weird even for a chaos thingy," said Matt.

Betrayl said hurtfully, "Draconequus if you please...and let's just say I'm lonely. Chaos is more fun spread together."

"Get yourself a pet imp, or maybe a few cats," said Matt.

"Oh please, we're brother and sister..." said Betrayl with a smirk. With that, she whipped out a hand mirror that showed a reflection of Matt as a draconequus, or something like that.

"If you're trying to emulate Pablo Picasso, you're doing a pretty good job," said Matt as he squinted to try and make out what the image was.

"Oh please. We could have so much fun. You could beat McNeil and the Emperor with one click of your talon," she said, putting her eagle claw arm around his neck, waving her other hand in front of them before saying, "Chaos, chaos as far as the eye can see."

"Uh-huh, and where would Chloe and Kala and everyone else fit into this grand vision of yours?" asked Matt.

"Well, the prince and princess of chaos need toys," said Betrayl, yelping as Matt pushed her back .

"Sorry, but family doesn't work that way and we are definitely not family. Now get off my ship, I've got enough problems with pests already," snapped Matt.

Betrayl's eyes narrowed. "Didn't you learn the last time? I don't do anything I don't want to," she said darkly, sending a chaos blast at Matt and flying past him as he went flying .

As soon as Matt landed, he called into his comm, "All units, we have an intruder onboard, you can identify her by her chaotic and asymmetrical configuration. Yes, I said 'her', it's not NegaMorph. Fire on sight."

...

Betrayl zipped around many corners until she found a momentarily empty room. "Well, that was disappointing, but this could promise future fun," she said. Just then, she heard the sound of approaching troopers. "Exit Mrs. Hyde, enter Dr. Jekyll," she said before poofing into Mina.

Mina shook her head, looking around in confusion. "This isn't the medibay," she said in confusion before the door burst open and some of the few marines on board burst in.

...

"A chaos demon?" asked Gwen.

"I wouldn't call her a literal demon, but basically, yes," said Matt, "She's crazier than a barrel full of Morphs and she didn't get her name for being trustworthy."

"Where did you run into something like that?" asked Kevin.

"A...a long time ago during a dark moment in my career," said Matt, making it clear the subject should be dropped .

Kevin nodded and said, "So, are we gonna focus on finding her then?"

"As much as I would like to, I'm still mindful of the infestation we're currently dealing with," said Matt.

Chris nodded, "Yeah, we got several power losses already. We have to evacuate engineering when the halo system was activated."

"How fast can those things eat through the ship?" asked NegaMorph.

"They should have done that already. They want something," said Kevin grimly .

"They'll want to know where Elaina is," said Gwen, "And for that, they'll have to take that information from our brains."

"Uh, couldn't we just tell them?" asked Kevin.

"If they knew where Elaina is, every nanochip in that system will be making a beeline towards Earth," said Gwen.

"Ah...so borg," said Matt casually .

"So how do we get rid of these termites?" asked NegaMorph.

"We take out the queen, or her acting Regent in this case," said Gwen.

"They've probably vented engineering so they can use it themselves. So that's where she'll…" began Matt before the intercom screeched. Matt and Chris whined at that, their canine hearing very vulnerable to that kind of sound.

A voice was heard at that, "You will release the data we require."

Mina snapped, "Or be prepared to be blown out of the sky?"

"We need not resort to such crude measures," said the voice, "The vacuum of space is suitable enough."

"We're not gonna tell you a thi-mmmph!" snapped Mina before NegaMorph 'accidentally' send a blast of goo over her mouth .

"Perhaps we can negotiate," said Matt, buying for time.

"Negotiations are irrelevant. You will release the data or be destroyed," said the voice, before an automated message said "Alert...air scrubbers deactivated...air toxicity at 3 percent and rising."

"You won't be able to get that info if our brains pop out of our skulls," said Kevin.

There was no reply. "I don't think they care. We need to get them off my ship," said Matt urgently .

"If we can just catch the Regent, the rest of the swarm will go inert," said Gwen.

"Yeah, good luck getting to her," said NegaMorph, "Unless you have a shortcut to get around the hundred thousand drones she's got."

"We have something she wants..." said Matt .

"Uh, this is sounding like one of those bait plans that always go bad," said Kevin.

"Do we have anything else? If anyone else has a good plan, I'd love to hear it," said Matt angrily .

"We can put the info in a bottle and make her go get it," said Morph.

Matt paused at that, "Wait...that's actually a good idea. Do we still have flight control?"

"Yes, but we can't return to the Novus Star with all the bugs in here," said Chris.

"We're not going to the Novus Star," said Matt, "We're heading to Sector 19."

"Wait, isn't that the-" started Gwen.

"Great place for a scavenger hunt," interrupted Kevin.

"Fine, we just gotta keep the bugs busy and hope Betrayl doesn't mess with us," said Matt .

"Maybe we could have Betrayl distract them," said NegaMorph sarcastically.

"Good luck with that. She's her own person...literally," said Matt .

"Though considering she's a creature of chaos, she'd hate those nanochips as much as we would," said Gwen.

"Why would you say that?" asked Mina.

"The nanochips adhere to a strict mechanical order, reinforced by insectoid caste systems. Sounds like something a chaos creature would abhor," said Gwen.

"Let's hope then," said Matt, before the announcement said "Warning...air scrubbers offline. Air toxicity at 5% and rising."

...

With little alternative, the group headed towards engineering, though the route was not as familiar as it once was. The walls looked like they'd been covered in a metallic resin. Some of the corridors looking like they were alive, not helped by the drones flying back and forth, though Matt noticed the room where the spiderbots lurked was left untouched by at least two corridors

"Well, at least we know those things won't go after spiderbots," said Matt.

"Then why would the spiderbots not want to go near that system?" asked NegaMorph.

"Cause they're homicidal, not stupid," said Matt grimly .

"Ants are prey to spiders, but if enough ants can gang up on a spider, the spider's the prey," said Kevin.

"Yeah...let's not be their lunch," said Matt carefully, Mina chuckling to herself for a second .

"So how do we know the Regent when we see her?" asked Chris, "Come to think of it, how can we see her?"

"Look for the robot with the giant head to patch its ego," said Matt darkly .

Mina rubbed her forehead and gave a soft groan. "You ok?" asked Chris.

"Yeah, just getting a little headache," said Mina.

"You can head back. As long as you don't attack them, you'll be fine," said Gwen kindly.

"Yeah, sure," groaned Mina as her head throbbed more.

...

As the group went, Mina's headache got worse. "Ugh, I don't feel so good," groaned Mina.

"Migraines, it's a post-puberty thing," said Matt.

"I'm...I'm gonna take a breather," moaned Mina, taking an offered blaster from Matt for protection and heading into an intact side room, noting, once she was inside that it was apparently where the meatloaf lived.

"Ugh, I bet dragons don't get migraines," groaned Mina, "Say, if I change form, maybe my head will feel better."

A voice in her head said, "Perfect idea." before she doubled up.

"What's happening?" groaned Mina as her body started twisting in unfamiliar ways. She managed to exert enough will over herself to shift into her anthro form. "Ugh, what in the world was that?" she asked.

She turned to a metal crate and screamed to see the hodgepodge creature in her reflection. "You like?" laughed the reflection .

"What are you?" demanded Mina.

"I'm you, silly," laughed her reflection .

"You can't be me, I'm me," protested Mina.

"Silly, every Shar-Khan has a split personality, remember?" said her reflection cheerfully .

Mina gave her reflection a doubtful look, "You're supposed to be my split personality? But you don't even look like me. You barely look like a dragon at all."

"No other looks like a dragon, silly," said the reflection with a laugh .

"I find that pretty hard to believe," said Mina skeptically.

"Well, if you really want to verify it, we can always ask your godfather," said the reflection.

"Ok," said Mina sternly, pulling out her com before the reflection said "Of course, you'll spend the rest of this trip in the brig as a potential risk to the crew." causing her to pause

"You could be lying," said Mina, "You might even be that Betrayl person Matt was warning us about."

"Me? Look around you. Is there anyone else to cast a reflection? Where is your own reflection?" Mina looked around nervously at that before back at the reflection who said "Isn't it funny?"

"I don't think it's hehehehe," said Mina before clapping her hands over her mouth when a burst of laughter unexpectedly came out.

"I know...isn't it?" said the reflection starting to laugh hysterically, Mina joining in despite her efforts, her right hand morphing into a clawed paw unnoticed . Someone ought to have noticed the maniacal laughter that was going on in the room, but 'someone' had soundproofed the room after Mina closed the door.

"What's...hahahaha...what are...hahahahahaha!" managed Mina as black fur spread down her stretching body before she squeezed her eyes shut, opening them again to show her new reflection's eyes, starting to laugh in earnest as she changed much faster .

In a short amount of time, Betrayl was adjust Mina's clothing on her new body. "Oh, I am so going to enjoy this," she said to herself.

...

"Ok...here we are..." said Matt, looking at the bulkhead to the engineering room. He reached for the control, only for the keypad to flip open and a cuckoo to come out. "Either the spiderbots are feeling frisky today or our resident poltergeist is nearby," said Matt.

There was a flash of light and Matt gagged from the cigar suddenly in his mouth, Betrayl appearing beside him. "That what I love about you, so observant," she taunted, before going "Oh." as everyone aimed at her

Matt spat out his cigar and said, "I keep a 'no smoking' policy on my ships." He aimed his blaster at Betrayl and added, "Unless its bodies smoking, then that's ok."

"Ah, ah, ah, I'm a spirit of chaos. I could be in anyone you know," said Betrayl with an evil grin before an army helmet appeared on her head, alongside a Ripley haircut. "Anyway, we have a bug hunt," she said, the hair and helmet reduced to ash as Matt blasted her. "Is that a no?" she rasped .

"Nobody invited you, get off my ship," snapped Matt.

"You seem a little outnumbered, but if you're going for a faithful recreation of the first Alien film, someone needs a chestbuster," said Betrayl, blasting NegaMorph who grumbled "I hate you." before another cuckoo popped out his chest .

"Hey, where's my alien?" demanded Morph only a starfish-like creature to be poofed over his face. "Ok then," he said in a muffled voice.

"You need the help of someone those things can't assimilate. Magic beats tech after all, as Miss Tennyson knows," said Betrayl cheerfully, teleporting next to Gwen, both of them suddenly in Hogwarts outfits. "You're a wizard, Gwenny," Betrayl teased .

"Actually, I'm more like a-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, sorceress. But I left my sorceress costumes at the cleaners'," said Betrayl.

"Ignore her, get lost, Betrayl. We can crush these things without your help," snapped Matt .

Just then, there was a slithering, rattling sound as a small wave of living metal started moving towards them.

The shape formed into an anthropomorphic...insect thing who glared "You bring betrayal...a creature of chaos to fight us," it said darkly, several other nanochips forming into combat machines .

"Are they doing something cool? I think I hear something cool going on," said Morph's muffled voice as he tried to remove the starfish thing.

"Hey, the freaky thing's not with us," said Matt defensively .

"Yeah, what gave you that idea?" asked Betrayl teasingly as she leaned on Matt, now wearing a t-shirt labeled 'I'm with Stupid', the arrow obviously pointing at Matt.

The Regent looked at her minions. "Assimilate them, we will extract the information that way." The combat drones walking forward, left arms outstretched

"Ok, now I know something cool is going on. Somebody better tell me what it is," said Morph.

One of the drones picked up Morph at that, tapping his head and shaking him, a rattling echo heard before it shrugged, put him down and patted him on the head before continuing towards the retreating group .

"Who was that? I know you guys are holding out on me!" called Morph.

The others were backing up as the combat drones approached. "Come on, let me help, you know I would be great against these guys," said Betrayl.

Matt glared before calling, "Let em have it!" the group opening fire, taking down several of the drones before firing another volley, this time a green energy field deflecting the blasts.

"I could deal with them," said Betrayl tauntingly, floating above their heads like she was laying on a couch.

"We don't need your help!" snapped Matt as he shifted into Loboan form and sonic howled several drones apart. "Ha, see? Told ya," he said triumphantly.  
He let out a few more howls at that, one drone almost grabbing him before exploding into a cloud that engulfed him. The swarm of nanochips closed tight around Matt before merging together into a robotic shell, a shell that appeared to overpower Matt's resistance as it turned to snarl at them.

Betrayl grinned. "Oh please, down boy," she said, clicking her talons, only for a literal raspberry to be heard. She looked at her talon and clicked them again, this time a dial tone heard. "Erm...run," she said nervously .

The group didn't need further encouragement as they quickly turned tail, though Morph had to be picked up so he ran the right way.

The drones lost interest after a few minutes running, everyone glaring at Betrayl. "What? What did I do?" she said innocently, a halo floating over her horns .

"Some great spirit of chaos you turned out to be," said Kevin, "You're nothing but a party gimmick."

"Oh really?" said Betrayl evilly, floating up to Kevin with an evil sneer

"Yeah, if you were half as bad as everyone said, those nanochips would have been gone," said Kevin.

"So...you want to see what I can do, do you?" said Betrayl in a low dark voice, sending several unspoken warnings .

"I've already seen what you can't do," said Kevin.

"Oh, I have witnesses. Let's see if I can turn that frown upside down?" sneered Betrayl, clicking her talons before literally pulling Kevin's frown off like a sticker and putting it back upside down.

"?rof taht saw tahW" snapped Kevin before realizing what he said didn't sound right.  
"Oh, I think I've made my point. Just nod," said Betrayl darkly, her eyes glowing red .

Kevin nodded a little slowly at that.

Betrayl's smile returned at that and she clicked her talons, Kevin returning to normal. "Great, I know we'll be wonderful friends," she said evilly .

"So any particular reason your magic went *pfft* on those things?" asked NegaMorph, "I thought chaos spirits don't operate on rules."

"Too much order. These things must have no concept of chaos," said Betrayl sulkily .

"Can't you just create your own chaos?" asked Chris.

"Not if you want the ship intact," said Betrayl calmly .

"So we need an alternative source of chaos," said Gwen, all eyes turning towards Morph.  
"I'm liking the sound of it, but I'm not sure about the look of it," said Morph.

...

The Regent looked at his newest acquisition, the assimilated Loboan. He had not intended to turn the wolf creature into a robotic one, but apparently its nanites had taken to the nanochips rather well. Sadly it also knew little to nothing about the missing queen .

"I told you, I never heard of the Elaina girl before," snapped Matt, the only part he was in control of being his voice box.

"You know where to locate the data?" demanded the Regent .

"Well, there are plenty of places I can point out, but I've already got enough of your bugs in me," said Matt.

"More cooperation is required," said the Regent darkly, adding, "Your personality traits are not required, only loyalty."

"I warn you, my brain is not a pretty place to be poking around. My madness could infest your entire hive intelligence," said Matt.

"Your intelligence is not needed either," said the Regent, sending a command to have more nanochips migrate to his mind, Matt squeezing his eyes shut before opening red ones, growling. "Locate the Tennyson girl," the Regent ordered .

Matt snarled before heading out.

...

The drones guarding the way into their territory watched impassively before turning their head as a 'fwoosh' was heard alongside a flash of light, them both turning to see Morph standing confused where it had once been empty .

Morph looked around and said, "Wait a minute, this isn't Broadway." The drone's eyes narrowed before they started walking towards Morph.

"Well, looks like I'll have to do the show here," said Morph before pulling out a rotating pie display, "I hate to waste good pie, but the show must go on." He threw several pies at the drones, hitting them mostly in the face. The drones snarled, wiping the gunk from their faces before trying to shoot Morph who was now doing a dance routine, each shot narrowly missing .

"And now for my next trick, the bomb juggle!" said Morph before pulling out several old-timey bombs with lit fuses before juggling them over his head. He immediately messed up, the bombs falling at the drones' feet, said drones looking at them before over at Morph accusingly before they were blown apart, their hosts, two engineers thrown back, out cold.

"Oops, I need to be more careful," said Morph leaning on a lever.

The sealed blast door opened at that, letting in the others, Betrayl, being her, clapping and whistling, "Wonderful, Morph. I couldn't have done better. Are you sure we aren't related?"

"I dunno, I have a long family tree," said Morph before spitting out a fully grown tree.

"Enough, we gotta get control of engineering. Boss gave us the plan so it's up to us," said Chris.

"If I know my brother, he's probably driving them all nuts with whatever's in his head," said Betrayl brightly.

"They're a hive. If he's singing we wouldn't have needed Morph," said Chris darkly before a metallic howl was heard down the corridor .

"That doesn't sound good," said Kevin.

Matt skidded into view at that on all fours, glaring with red optics at them. "Doggy!" said Morph happily, running towards him . Matt charged at the group, squishing Morph as he passed him.

"You gotta be kidding me," snapped Chris, going werewolf to lunge at Matt . Matt didn't even seem to notice him until Chris tackled him. He snapped back at Chris as he grappled with him, but he seemed more concerned about moving forwards.

Betrayl looked over at Kevin and Gwen. "Do you know something? I think he wants you," she said pleasantly.

"Aren't you going to help?" asked Gwen.

"Eh, I think you're doing fine on your own right now," said Betrayl.

"Oh? I thought you wouldn't want Matt to be hurt," said Kevin as he absorbed some metal, "I might try to be gentle, but I'm pretty sure he'll be feeling this later."

Matt finally finished throwing Chris aside before lunging at Gwen, only to be caught on the jaw by a right hook courtesy of Kevin . "Now be a good robo-dog and stay down before I put more dents in you," said Kevin as he expanded his fist into a hammer.

Matt pulled himself to his feet, shaking his head before snarling and lunging at Kevin instead . A blow from Kevin's hammer fist caused several cracks to appear in Matt's metal hide. The cracks however quickly healed and Matt turned to growl, opening his mouth and sending a sonic blast at Kevin

The blast threw Kevin back into a wall and Matt quickly pounced on top of him. Kevin caught his claws before they could reach his neck. Kevin strained to keep the claws from him, but he was also slowly pushing them together. Once he got them close enough, he caused Matt's hands to melt together.

Matt looked down in confusion before roaring and trying to snap at him again only for a neon pink collar to appear around his neck and drag him back. "Bad doggy," said Betrayl before poofing up a squirt bottle and spraying water in Matt's face.

Matt yelped, shrieking as electricity flowed over him, some of the nanochips falling away, showing a clearly brainwashed and human eye . "I knew those nasty drones couldn't have completely rebuilt you," said Betrayl, "But look at how thick they're dug in. Somebody needs a flea bath." With a poof, a huge bathtub with clawed feet and filled with a steaming yellow liquid appeared. "Miss Tennyson, would you do the honors?" said Betrayl cheerfully .

"With pleasure," said Gwen as a mana construct grabbed Matt and lifted him over the bathtub. Perhaps the nanochips in him knew what was about to happen, perhaps his Loboan side didn't want to take a bath, but Matt was whining and struggling to get out as much as he could. But then Gwen let go and Matt landed with a splash in the tub.

There was a hail of lightning and shrieking out of the water at that before a shaking human hand grabbed the edge, Matt pulling himself up with a groan . "That...was awful..." groaned Matt, "Like being stuffed in an animatronic suit."

"Up you get," said Chris, helping Matt out.

"This guy's determined...very determined..." he said weakly.

"Which is why we can't let it near Elaina," said Gwen, "Does the Regent seem like something that would give up control to anyone?"

"No...she was very clear that he doesn't like free will," said Matt .

"Yeah, I'm betting the only reason those nanochips haven't swarmed out and conquered more planets is because the Regent doesn't have the official authority to do so. But with Elaina out of the way..." said Gwen.

"Have I mentioned these guys are like the Borg? I'm pretty sure I've said it at least twice by now," said Matt, "That's cause they are. They bloody assimilated me!"

"Then we need to flush them out of here quick," said Chris, "Does the Jabberwocky have enough juice to do it yet?"

"Oh, be quiet," said Betrayl loftily, causing a bone to appear in the surprised Chris's mouth, which he suddenly found he couldn't remove, "I could...if there was hundreds of me. Even numbers can defeat magic. They have lots of numbers."

"We could get them to leave if with the right bait," said Matt, "Getting them to notice the bait's the hard part."

"Well, it seems to me your old plan of luring them into the Sector 19 black hole is a good one," said Betrayl thoughtfully, adding quickly, "I've been hiding for a while around here. I overheard."

"Well of course it's a good idea," said Matt.

"Having a creature who embodies double-crossing agree with an idea of yours does not inspire that much confidence," said NegaMorph.

"Hey, I wouldn't sabotage any plan that gets rid of these bugs," said Betrayl in an annoyed tone .

"So am I supposed to go over and perform for those guys again?" asked Morph.

"No, they'll expect it. We have to give them exactly what they want," said Betrayl with an evil grin.

...

The Regent glared at the image of Matt, now human again on the viewscreen. "You plan to take us to a location where we can find the information?" it said coldly .

"Sure, we'll even loan you a ship so you can find your queen a lot faster," said Matt.

"No...you will transport us there," said the Regent coldly .

"Do I look like a taxi service?" asked Matt.

"If you do not agree, we will not re-engage the air scrubbers and you will suffocate," said the Regent .

"Alright, alright, quit twisting my arm," griped Matt.

"There has been no physical contact with your limbs," said the Regent calmly, sending a command to his minions to both re-engage the life support systems and return limited control of propulsion to the bridge .

"That was a figure of... You know what, forget it, rhetoric is wasted on your kind," said Matt.

...

The line went dead at that, Matt turning to NegaMorph, "Ok, you and Morph mess with the sensors. The grav shields are a separate system from engineering meaning they'll turn on automatically but we can't have these creeps see what we're floating near."

"Yeah, that's gonna be a big giveaway," said NegaMorph.

"So how do we mess with the sensors?" asked Morph.

"Use your imagination," snapped Matt .

"Ooh, this should be fun," said Morph.

...

For the next few hours, the Regent noted with growing annoyance that the two blobs and the chaos construct had wreaked havoc with sensor systems and other monitoring devices. It was slowly losing patience.

If it had a sense of humor, it would have found some of their antics amusing, particularly the one with the banana split. But its core personality being more machine than organic, it found these antics very tiresome.

The few sensors left however noted that a devastating gravitational field was getting closer. But the tomfoolery of the creatures with the other sensors, currently some variation of the game known as 'dodgeball', made it impossible to determine the source of that gravitational field.

There was a shake as the ship decelerated at that as the Regent looked for anything. Soon, its extended system found a camera drone and it easily jacked in to take a proper look outside. Growing rapidly larger was a black hole, the view going to static as the drone and its nanochips were destroyed. The Regent's eyes narrowed.

...

"I think you're making up all these rules," said NegaMorph as he tried to make sense of the cards he was holding.

"Hey, paradox poker is the game that only the best gamblers play," said Betrayl, "Don't tell me you don't think you're good enough to play with the big boys."

"Huh, I'll show you... Hah! Ace of clubs!" he said, slamming a card down, only for a club to phase out the card and hit him on the head. "I see the flaw in this game." he rasped

"Oh don't be such a big baby," said Betrayl.

"I hate you." muttered NegaMorph, Morph saying "Aces high."

Just then, several laser bolts plugged Morph and caused him to splatter across the wall.

"Oh, ace pilot," said Betrayl cheerfully.

NegaMorph glared and looked at the others. "Hey, she's cheating! Can't we like petrify her or something?" he snapped, no reply coming . "Uh, guys, you hearing me?" asked NegaMorph.

Chris turned to look at them at that with a dull gaze. "Destroy the chaos minions," he said dully, causing the trio to stare before Morph gave a rather girly scream and they fled .

"IT'S THE INVASION OF THE POD PEOPLE!" yelled Morph.

"Not quite, but more than close enough," said NegaMorph.

"Quiet!" snapped Betrayl before clicking her talons and teleporting the trio to the deserted bridge .

"Obviously the Regent decided to stop playing nice, probably caught on to where we're going," said NegaMorph.

"Great, now we have to get rid of it another way," said Betrayl .

"What other way have we got?" asked Morph.

"We're three chaos makers. Let's go get that Regent and throw him off the ship," said Betrayl.

"Not a bad idea, problem is that we'll have to wade through a flood of nanochips to get anywhere near it," said NegaMorph.

Betrayl glared before there was a flash of light and the Morphs were dressed like army cadets and Betrayl like a drill sergeant. "Are you Morphs or mice?" she said in a Texan accent .

"I like cheese," said Morph.

Betrayl nodded. "That's the spirit. What about you, soldier?" she said, pointing at NegaMorph .

"I frankly think you have no idea what you're doing," said NegaMorph.

"Of course I don't. I'm a chaos spirit," said Betrayl cheerfully .

"Am I the only one here feeling a sense of foreboding doom?" asked NegaMorph. He glanced at Morph who was pour chocolate milk over his head and trying to lap it all up with his tongue. "Apparently so," said NegaMorph.

...

The Regent glared as he tried to access the knowledge he needed again, only to be rebuffed once more .

This Gwendolyn was proving to have a formidable mind, which is to be expected from an Anodite. But the Regent will be getting that information regardless.

A shake was felt at that, the Regent turning in surprise as the doors fell down and the chaos creature, in a yellow endo suit stomped in. "How about you pick on someone your own size?" said the creature cockily.

"You are several times my size," said the Regent.

"Good point," said the creature, shrinking down to half the Regent's size and saying in a squeaky voice, "Blah, blah, blah, what I said before."

"Do you really think that any machine is capable of defeating me?" asked the Regent.

"Nah, I'm just messing with you," said the chaos creature, suddenly next to the Regent, a party hat on its head.

"If you are trying to engage the emotion known as humor, you are wasting time," said the Regent flatly.

"Oh, don't tell me you can't have a little fun," said the creature cheerfully, blowing a streamer in the Regent's ear before saying, "Oh well...catch me if you can." before splatting a pie in the Regent drone's face .

Immediately, several repurposed security drones zoomed in on the creature. The Regent glared, making to follow them before pausing as he saw a shadow, minus anything to cast it, heading for her.

The Regent assumed that someone was approaching with camouflage or cloaking gear and had the drone's fire in the air in front of the shadow. It was with confusion when the shots went harmlessly through and the Regent glared, accessing the unsecure personnel files. "Alter aim...destroy the deck..." she commanded .

Of course, being a shadow, it easily avoided the blasts from the drones, weaving around the holes they made. However, it also meant the shadow's occupant couldn't emerge as he'd be vulnerable .

But the shift in the drones' attention allowed others to act. Betrayl flew back in. heading for the controls and typing in an override from Mina's memories. The girl had definitely done her homework. "Access accepted...ejecting data cores," said the computer .

"Good riddance to bad rubbish, I always say," said Betrayl. The Regent turned in shock at that, before mindlessly turning back into a nanochip cloud, along with the drones, their hosts falling down out cold. "Now to take care of these pests," said Betrayl before conjuring up a gigantic sheet of flypaper.

The nanochips however, in their mindless need to get the data, flowed into vents and through walls, an alarm indicating they were literally fleeing the ship, to her own certain regret given how close the sector 19 black hole was

"Well, I guess that takes care of that," said Betrayl.

NegaMorph emerged from his shadow and said, "Yep, you just save the ship and all aboard it."

"Yes I did...I did...I helped order...OH NO!" screamed Betrayl, before flying out the room.

Morph walked in, dressed as a clown. "Did I miss my cue?" he asked.

"I think so. Wanna follow and annoy her some more?" asked NegaMorph.

"Why not? I don't wanna feel silly for dressing up like this for nothing," said Morph before honking his nose.

The two immediately gave chase, Morph spotting Betrayl's tail vanishing into an engineering machine shop . "Ok, you got ammunition?" asked NegaMorph.

"Check," said Morph as he held up a pair of pies.

The two headed for the door before NegaMorph threw it open, and they both paused, seeing Mina leaning in a sitting position against the wall, asleep and no sign of Betrayl . "Where did that thing go?" asked NegaMorph, "And where has she been all day?"

"Say, you don't think that Betrayl and Mina are the same person, do you?" asked Morph.  
NegaMorph glared at Morph at that, "That's just a dumb idea."

"Can I have give Mina the pies?" asked Morph.

"Let her sleep. Go find Matt and tell him we found his goddaughter," said NegaMorph, looking suspiciously at her reflection...something was off.

...

The Novus Star was quickly returning to Earth, Matt not wanting to take any chances that there were more nanochips that might give chase. Mina was still asleep, the doctors saying something had drained her mana like a battery, the main culprit being some of the nanochips. Chloe was still out cold from her head injury, but she ought to be waking up soon.

"Ok, so that little creep tried to get us eaten, meaning he knows we're scanning for him," said Matt, him and his crew discussing what had happened. Matt was also rubbing his cyborg arm, having to get used to it again now it was uncoated.

"We actually got his trail out of this debacle, right?" asked Techo.

"Five trails," said Matt angrily .

"Fortunately, we know have the spare ships and extra hands to multitask," said Aria, "I shall send five scout ships after each trail. If none of them lead to the Archon, we will know much faster and shall be ready to move when he truly reveals himself."

"Fine...and sweep the ship again. That annoyance, Betrayl, is probably still aboard and I doubt we'll be able to count on her being helpful again," ordered Matt .

"Finding her may not be so easy," said Aria, "She could be disguised as anyone or anything. She could hide for months without being discovered."

"You know her as well as I do. There's no chance she'll sit still that long. Sooner or later, she'll commit some act of random chaos and reveal herself," said Matt.

"I will have all teams on alert," said Aria.

Chris said, suspiciously, "So...when are you gonna say how you met that thing?"  
Matt's eyes narrowed and he said "What's today?"

"Wednesday," replied Chris.

"Ok, Thursday...Friday...Saturday...NEVER!" snapped Matt.

"But-" began Techo before yelping as Matt snarled, his eyes glowing yellow. "Never mind," he said quickly .

...

Meanwhile, deep inside Mina's head, Betrayl was sitting in a comfy armchair in front of a roaring fireplace and drinking some hot cocoa. "Ah, I think I'm gonna like it in here," she said as she took a sip. A buzzing from her dressing gown pocket soon got her attention. "Ugh, always when I'm trying to relax," she complained before reaching into the pocket and pulling out a glass bottle in which the miniscule form of the nanochip Regent was buzzing inside.

Betrayl grinned darkly at that as the Regent struggled. "I warned you that you had no idea who you were messing with...and I meant it. You _had_ to be so...order. Anyone sensible would have run," she said evilly .

The Regent buzzed angrily at her. "Oh, don't worry your little head, I'll let you out eventually, when I need to make a big distraction," said Betrayl. The Regent buzzed some more. "How did I bring you physically into Mina's mind? That's a good question and I don't feel like answering it," said Betrayl before stuffing the bottle under the cushion of her armchair.  
Betrayl grinned and reached for her glass only for a black fireball to vaporize it and the table...and her hand though that quickly reappeared. Betrayl span in her chair to see what looked like Mina, though her eyes looked bloodshot. "Oh...oh yeah. You must be Mina's new Khan-spawned split personality. We're roomies," she said cheerfully .

"You're trespassing in my territory," growled the Virk.

"No, you're trespassing in _my_ territory," taunted Betrayl .

"This is my body and soul, you don't belong here," growled the Virk.

"By all means, try and evict me. You aren't a 001'er so there aren't any mental blocks here," said Betrayl, sitting back down and summoning another glass of cocoa .

"I am a purple dragoness, I have more power than you can imagine," said the Virk.

"Obviously, your imagination hasn't developed much yet," said Betrayl, "I suppose that's gonna be included in my part of the rent."

"HOW DARE YOU?" roared the Virk, sending a blast of flame that engulfed Betrayl. The Virk smirked and said, "That was easy."

She turned around only to find Betrayl lying in a sunbathing bed. "You know, it's awfully dim in here. You need to brighten this place up some or you're gonna get all icky and pale," said Betrayl.

The Virk glared before lunging at Betrayl. Betrayl lifted a finger and made contact with the Virk's forehead before she could tackle her. There was a ripple before the two of them were flung to opposite sides of the 'room' they were in. "You can't mess with my mind in here," snarled the Virk.

"You would think that I would be able to," said Betrayl, "Tell you what, you let me crash here while my old body loosens up and I'll give you a couple of pointers."

"I'm sorry?" said the Virk, in surprise .

"Well, you're pretty new to the supervillain thing or else you'd have taken over Mina by now," said Betrayl, "I mean, honestly, how long have you existed?"

"2 days," said the Virk proudly .

Betrayl tsked and said, "You are such a greenhorn." Quite predictably, the Virk's horns turned a bright neon green.

"HEY!" snapped the Virk as Betrayl continued "Do you even have a name yet? All the best ones do I hear."

"Uh, of course I do, it's a name that'll inspire fear in all corners of the universe," said the Virk.

"Let me guess, 'Dark Lumina'?" asked Betrayl.

There was a pause before the Virk snapped, "No…" looking sulky .

Betrayl sighed and said, "Oh boy, looks like I've got my work cut out for me."

* * *

There's another chapter up and this is where the main arc of this story, asides the Anur Mirror, really starts. The nanochips didn't really get that much closure in the show and there was only one comic, 'Parallel Paradox' that attempted to answer that, though it really didn't do that much, so we're going to get more involved with these things. Also Betrayl is going to be more active for a while, no telling what she'll do or what she'll unleash.

On a lesser note, don't expect too much of Gwen being called Gwendolyn and Kevin's brief mouth reversal is a reference to what happened to another character voiced by Greg Cipes.

Anyways, chapter updates should be more usual for a while, throughout this month at least. Keep an eye out for an update next week and please review.


	8. Clash of the Copies

**Reticence Saga**

**The Aliens Within**

**Chapter 8: Clash of the Copies**

Since Chloe had woken up from that nasty bump on the head, she hasn't been acting quite like her usual self. Usually, that term meant someone was acting more aggressive, controlling, or some other indication they were being turned evil. But this time, it was the opposite. Chloe now seemed more...cautious, more nervous about going about her business. One might be even so bold as to call her 'timid' if that person didn't mind the odd look everyone would give them for making such a statement.

"Chloe, nothing's going to happen," said Matt for the umpteenth time to her closed quarter's door .

"I just know that something bad's gonna happen today," called Chloe.

"Chloe, it's not Friday the 13th. Unless you've gotten some black cats annoyed with you, I don't think you're gonna have a bad day," said Matt. Matt paused for a second before saying, "Anyway, we're British, black cats are good luck for us."

"Alright, fine, but I just know something's bad is gonna happen," said Chloe before opening the door.

Matt raised an eyebrow as Chloe was wearing her full Shar crystalline armor. "A tad excessive, don't you think?" asked Matt.

"Never take chances," snapped Chloe, folding the armor's draconic helmet down .

"Chloe, we're not even going into battle today, unless it's Cake Day, then we'll have to battle the experiments," said Matt.

"NOT taking chances. You should armor up too," snapped Chloe .

"Chloe, I know you might feel vulnerable without your Shar powers, but this is taking it a little far," said Matt, "We got along fine for years before we found out we could turn into dragons and make energy blasts."

"I don't care, something bad's gonna happen," snapped Chloe, walking past Matt .

"Do you even know what that bad thing is?" asked Matt.

"It's better to be safe than- WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!" yelped Chloe as she suddenly found herself slipping up and struggling to remain on her feet.

Matt yelped at that. "Wow, easy!" he called, trying to grab her from behind, and having a heavy crystalline amour land on him with a 'crunch'. "Heeey...I know what the bad thing waaaas…" he said in a muffled voice .

Chloe craned her head upwards and saw a 'Wet Floor' sign a considerable distance away. "Those signs ought to be more easily seen," she grumbled as she struggled to get up.

"I...can't feel my spine," rasped Matt.

"Hang on a sec," said Chloe as she tried to roll to her side, which squished Matt into the floor even more.

"Medic..." rasped Matt.

...

Aria meanwhile was on a com with Max. "Mr. Tennyson. I still think we were not the only ship. There is a sensor gap that a small ship could have used and there are many species who could survive the radiation field that forced the crew to stasis," she said calmly .

"Do you have any idea who or what this hitchhiker could be?" asked Max.

"Not a hitchhiker, a tailgater," said Aria, "Obviously they were intent on pursuing us wherever we were going."

"Then why wouldn't they have done something by now?" asked Max.

"Attacking a ship like an infinity class would be a lesson in suicide with the ship that would fit into the sensor gap. Nobody is that stupid. However, if they were aware of the wormhole's...temporal nature, they could have decided to come to poach technology," said Aria .

"And could provide a history-altering edge in your past," said Max, "Is there any way to identify that ship or who was flying it?"

"No, all I have is a vapor trail that the stupid secondary AI recorded when it mutinied to pursue that mirror. The scan matches at least 8 possible models, including Combine Confederation scout vessels, merchant vessels and civilian models," said Aria promptly .

"But no energy signature to track," said Max.

"Our best hope is to wait for someone obviously from the past to make a very attention-grabbing crime," said Aria, "No telling how long that would take."

...

Meanwhile, Aria's answer was several light years away, on a space station in the Orion sector. On it, the aforementioned answer was drowning her sorrows...Omnirus. "So...you're saying you're from the past?" said the barkeep skeptically.

"Is that really the oddest story you've ever heard?" asked Omnirus.

"No, but you're definitely one of the oddest people that's been in here. Say...you look familiar..." said the barkeep at that, Omnirus looking a little proud before she went pale when the barkeep said, "Weren't you killed about 5 years ago?"

"No, clearly not," said Omnirus in an annoyed tone.

"No, I get Nullspace federation news here. I remember the report," said the barkeep before saying cheerfully, "Lucky for you it's all false." Omnirus looking more than a little nervous .

"You can't believe everything you read," said Omnirus.

"I know, but it was really impressive. They even said the battle was live," said the barkeep cheerfully.

"Clearly you don't know who you're talking to here," said Omnirus, "And you ought to. I am one of Ben 10's greatest enemies."

The barkeep gave her a skeptical look. "You don't look as bad as Vilgax, Zs'Skayr, or Albedo. Kinda look like that Kevin 11 fella."  
Omnirus glared before snapping, "I am worth a hundred of those morons put togeth...who's Albedo?"

The barkeep laughed and said, "Don't be stupid. Everybody's heard of Ben 10's evil twin."

"Tennyson's got a twin? Since when?" snapped Omnirus .

"You really must be from the past," said the barkeep, "How long were you in cryosleep?"

"That's none of your business," snapped Omnirus, "Tell me about this Albedo."

"Albedo...some kinda scientist from Galvan. Went off the deep end, I heard," said the barkeep cheerfully .

"Let me guess, he was one of those Galvans who let his 'superior intellect' get to his head," said Omnirus.

"Yep, though considering he used to be Azmuth's assistant, he has something to back it up. Not just anyone can make a copy of the Omnitrix," said the barkeep.

"He made what?" said Omnirus in shock .

"A copy of the Omnitrix," said the barkeep, "Not that it worked out well for him since it made him into a copy of Ben. Can you imagine being stuck as one of those fleshy earthlings all the time? Yuck."

"You try being stuck as the wrong gender," muttered Omnirus .

"What's that?" asked the barkeep.

"None of your business," said Omnirus, "Where is Albedo now?"

"In jail, tried to attack Azmuth one too many times," said the barkeep.

"Which jail?" demanded Omnirus.

"I dunno...why do you wanna know?" asked the barkeep before saying, "That's 20 credits for the drinks."

"50 credits and you'll tell me where Albedo's jail is," said Omnirus.

"What do I look like, an information trading post?" asked the barkeep, "Go bug some other guy."

Omnirus glared before slapping some credits down before stomping out. "I'll have that info soon enough," she growled, "It's hardly going to be the most guarded secret in the galaxy. The rest should be easy after that. There's yet to be a prison built to keep me out."

...

Back at the ship, Chloe's paranoia was reaching new heights...that or normal caution as she was eyeing the day's meatloaf with worried suspicion .

"Chloe, it's not gonna attack you. We cooked it well-done this time," said Draco.

"Fine, you first," said Chloe, Draco pausing, before slowly approaching with a fork, only for the meatloaf to sprout a fang-filled mouth and lunge at his face. "See?" she snapped as Draco rolled on the floor. Matt stared before shrugging, "Sorry, I gotta side with Lady Paranoia here."

"What do they put in that meatloaf?" asked Chip.

"Chip, there are some questions in this multiverse that are better left _unanswered_," said Matt.

"Oh please..." said Chip before the meatloaf grabbed him next.

"Ok, Chloe, we gotta talk about this. First you're carefree and actually agreeing with my plans. Now you're worse than Fl...than someone I met once," snapped Matt .

"Oh, like this isn't a normal response to the realization that I'm one small accident away from taking the big sleep?" snapped Chloe.

"No...but usually you kick whoever might cause it in the nuts then electrocute them for good measure," said Matt in a tired voice, getting the horrible feeling this conversation was headed nowhere at high speed .

"That's just it, I can't electrocute anyone anymore. I can barely give someone a static shock. I'm as vulnerable as any other girl," said Chloe.

"Your armor fixes that," snapped Matt, tapping her armor's crystalline chestplate .

"Which is why I refused to take it off," said Chloe.

"Chloe, you can't wear that armor 24/7," said Matt, "It lacks...accommodations."

"I'll be fine," snapped Chloe before Matt glared.

"No you won't. You're coming with me," he snapped, grabbing her arm and dragging her out the canteen . After a few seconds, Matt said, "Stop dragging your feet, you're leaving scratches in the floor."

"I know what you're thinking...and...NO!" she snapped .

"C'mon, Chloe, you're showing less spine than Morph at a sock puppet show," said Matt.

"Good! Sock puppets are damn scary!" snapped Chloe .

Matt paused and said, "Ok, that's it, someone's definitely hit you with a coward curse or something. We're having Hannah take a look at you."

...

Hannah, for those of you new to our heroes' adventure had begun life as a magical construct from a bodged spell that resulted in quite a few alternate Matt clones. However since then, she'd come into her own...and her own species thanks to a run in with a demon chi-infused armor. She was also one of two of the crew's magical experts, but while Megan handled the more friendly side of magic...well.  
"Hmm...it's not a curse, I can tell you that," she said, peering at Chloe who was frozen with terror, not helped when Hannah smiled and showed off some dentistry more at home on the raptors in Jurassic Park.

"Then is it a poison? There's no natural way that Chloe could lose her spine like this," said Matt.

"No...part of her mind is missing," said Hannah calmly .

"Ah, I should have known, runs in the family," said Matt.

"No, you misunderstand. Part of her soul's missing. This isn't like your split personalities. In fact, her whole chi is off," said Hannah calmly .

"And that was caused by one bump on the noggin?" asked Matt skeptically.

"Of course not." snapped Hannah, adding, "She should stay confined while I check some leads."

"Oh, that shouldn't be a problem, considering she doesn't want to leave her room," said Matt.

"Good, very good," said Hannah, looking over at Chloe, "You, stay in your room."

"You can't tell me what to-" started Chloe before Hannah made her eyes glow and hissed at her. "I'llbeinmyroombyebye!" yelped Chloe, fleeing out the door.

"That was too easy," said Hannah.

"Yeah...you also need to get out more," said Matt, walking out, before Mina walked in.

"Hey, I couldn't help hearing. What was that about Chloe?" she asked, wearing shades.

"Somebody apparently sucked the courage out of her, literally," said Matt.

"Oh? What might cause that?" asked Mina.

Hannah glared at Matt with the unspoken words 'go away or be blasted', Matt getting the message. "Fine, girl talk, I get it," he said, walking out and shutting the door.

Hannah turned to Mina at that, "I didn't want to say this near matt because of the damage he'd cause...but I don't think that's Chloe. The aura is not that of a human."

"Well, she may be locked out of her dragon and elemental powers, but she's still a Shar-Ekta," said Mina.

"And you think I cannot spot the difference?" said Hannah harshly

"As I've heard, you've just joined the crew right before they got their Ekta membership cards revoked so you wouldn't have had a lot of time to familiarize yourself with their trio nature," said Mina.

"Chloe is not what she seems. I should know. Neither am I," said Hannah darkly .

"Well, you would be the expert on that," said Mina only for Hannah to snarl at her.

Mina, to Hannah's curiosity, hardly twitched before backing up, apparently sensing when Hannah began to look at her aura. "Uh, I just remembered, I need to have a blood test done. I don't want to find out I'm getting any older," said Mina before she headed out the door.

Hannah glared as Mina left, her own suspicions at the forefront again.

...

Inside Mina's head, Betrayl was discussing with her pupil, "Always know when to toe the line with suspicious behavior. Things get harder if people think you're up to something."

"Then why did we have to go? You're the one who said to leave...and turn my eyes back," snapped 'Mina', taking off her shades to show her eyes were red dots on yellow.

"Apparently Hannah is more aware of dark magic than the rest of the crew," said Betrayl to Mina's dark side, "She'll be keeping a closer eye on us unless we find something to draw away her attention."

"You want to stay here, take out your old dwellings. It'll draw attention away," said Mina's dark side, causing Betrayl to pause...chaos was one thing but...

"As much of a wet blanket as she is, I can't just rub her out," said Betrayl, "We're connected, even if we're not living together. Not sure if my magic _can_ kill her. If only she'd quit whining about being so nice."

"Then make her more worried about her own vulnerability and make her want to merge back with you," said Mina's dark side.

Betrayl paused at that. "That's a great idea," she said happily .

"If one near-death experience is enough to rattle her, imagine how she'll feel when she's a day full of them," said Mina's dark side.

"Oh, let's get to work. But first, I need full control...soooo, back in the box," said Betrayl cheerfully.

"Wait, what box?" asked Mina's dark side before a whistling sound was heard. She looked up just in time for a safe to land on her.

"Just a little preview of what Chloe will be dealing with today," said Betrayl as she spun the dial on the safe.

"I hate you," moaned the dark side Mina before Betrayl vanished .

...

On a distant arm of the Milky Way, a Plumber facility held many nefarious villains for various crimes. Though the one prisoner that seemed most out of place was a certain human boy with white hair and red eyes. Or he would have been out of place if that were his true form.  
The boy was on his daily rant of, "Urgh...of all the demeaning...trapped as an immature human and not even my Ultimatrix to change back."

"Ya really think they'd let ya have your powers active in here?" asked the guy in the neighboring cell, "Give it a rest, kid."

"I am not a kid!" snapped the boy, "I am Albedo, the greatest mind of the Galvans and I am considerably older than that unworthy brat Ben Tennyson!"

"At the moment, you're a kid. Now shut up!" snapped the voice .

Albedo glared before he muttered, "I'll have to remember to do something unpleasant to that fellow once I've gotten my Ultimatrix working again."

"Hah, not likely. The main part's in lockup," laughed the voice, apparently with good hearing .

"They'll pay, they'll all pay, particularly Azmuth and Ben Tennyson," grumbled Albedo, "My chance will come."  
"Oh come on, you say this every damn week. Talk about something else," snapped the cell neighbor before the station shook with an explosion . The sound of gunfire was soon heard. "Huh, someone's breaking out. Was wondering when the next breakout would be," said the neighbor.

Albedo however gulped. He'd made a few enemies, some with the cash to hire assassins. This worry increased as a red line began to go around his door at high speed . He banged upon his Ultimatrix, hoping to get something out of it. "Why didn't I add an emergency failsafe to this thing?" he asked himself as the disabled device refused to respond.

The door finally finished cutting before falling forward with a clang, a female figure in the smoke, one of its hands glowing. The crystalline spike returned to its normal configuration as the creature said, "Albedo, I've been looking across the galaxy for you."

Albedo gulped. "I'll have you know that no mere assassin can best me," he said, his nervousness betraying him .

"Assassin? I'm springing you," said the creature, "Hurry up, I don't want those Plumbers perforating my ride."

"You're spring...you're breaking me out?" said Albedo in a confused tone, a yell of 'Oh come on' from next door .

"Yeah, I have need of you and I'm pretty certain I can return the favor, asides from the breaking out," said the creature.

"Fine, but I need a part from the lockup first," snapped Albedo .

"Fine, we'll pick it up on the way out," said the creature.  
"Hey! I want out too!" snapped the cell neighbor, only for Albedo to grin and say "Ma'am, leave my cellmate a memento please."

"Don't call me ma'am," said the creature as her plant-like arm inserted a seed through the cell door, "The name is Omnirus." A second later, the sound of electric zapping and the prisoner yelping was heard.

"Omnirus? I thought you were deceased," said Albedo.

"You thought wrong," snapped Omnirus.

"Hmm...you're not the first villain to come back from the dead. Just stay focused," said Albedo rudely .

Omnirus growled before reminding herself, "You need this kid, don't lose your temper now."

Albedo led Omnirus through the facility, passing several unconscious guards. "Only out cold?" he inquired as they headed into the storage room .

"The Plumbers tend to get more on your case if you do any major injuries," said Omnirus, "We're already going to have enough trouble from them where we're going without adding more incentive."

"Fine," said Albedo, searching several secure boxes before finally pulling out something that made him grin .

"Finally, I'll be able to get my stabilizer working again," said Albedo.

"But I bet you'll still be stuck with that default form," said Omnirus, "Not many people take a 10 year old seriously."

"I'm 11, I mean, this form is supposed to be a copy of Ben when he was 11. I was 11 over a hundred years before his grandfather was," snapped Albedo.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," said Omnirus smugly .

"Being stuck as Ben's teenaged form was bad enough, but this prepubescent form is an even greater insult to-" started Albedo.

"Listen, if you stop complaining for one minute, I can tell you that I can fix that Omnitrix of yours," interrupted Omnirus.

"It's an Ultimatrix and what would you know about fixing one?" demanded Albedo.

"I used to live inside one and my DNA wouldn't be blocked from repairing it like yours would be," said Omnirus, "But this isn't just for free. I'll fix your default form only if you fix mine."

Albedo opened his mouth to say that, unlike a actual person, as a Omnitrix construction, such a repair would not work for her, before he realize this thing could repair his Ultimatrix.

"Well, that might be more difficult, depending on the DNA samples involved and the design of your..." said Albedo before taking a good look at Omnirus's Omnitrix, "Well, this is going to certainly be an extensive repair job."

"You just give me my repair or enjoy puberty," said Omnirus coldly.

Albedo shuddered before saying, "Very well, but I cannot work with these deplorable conditions."

"Fine, we'll get out of here," snapped Omnirus, before looking over as a door opened to let several dazed-looking Plumber guards in, only to be knocked down by XLRWolf .

"Hurry it up, I'd like to get out of this place soon," said XLRWolf before saying, "Never mind, I'll just take you there." He grabbed Albedo before zipping through the corridors to the hangar.

Albedo shook his head before frowning, recognizing the cockpit of a ship model that was removed from service years ago. "That antique? That's your escape vehicle?" he asked.

"Would you rather ride outside?" snapped Omnirus as she shifted to her default form.

"Urgh...no...just get us out of here," growled Albedo.

Omnirus nodding, "Good...now strap in," she said, hitting a control, causing the ship to shoot forward at a speed far faster than it should have . "Personal modification. If I can't get a better ship, I improve what I can get," said Omnirus.

"Interesting. Now then, do your end of the deal and restore my Ultimatrix," snapped Albedo.

"I've already done you a favor with breaking you out, I think I'm the first one to get fixed," said Omnirus. Albedo glared before Omnirus said, "I could always drop you off on a nice asteroid."

"Alright, alright, I assume you have a laboratory where I can use the right tools," said Albedo.

"I know a place we can borrow for a while," said Omnirus.

"Where?" asked Albedo.

Omnirus smirked. "Somewhere nobody would think to look," she said evilly, setting some coordinates

Albedo glanced at the coordinates and asked, "The Encephalonus system? Surely you're not going to ask for help from those over-inflated Cerebrocrustaceans, are you?"

"Not directly," said Omnirus.

"Wait...you aren't..." began Albedo.

Omnirus laughed "Yeah, one of those lobsters got locked up. His lab's vacant."

"What makes you think his laboratory is anywhere near to being adequate for our needs?" asked Albedo.

"Cause he built his own Matrix at one point. Now be quiet and let me drive," said Omnirus.

...

Meanwhile, things were becoming alot more...interesting on the Novus Star. A series of weird close shaves had begun to occur around Chloe, much to her own terror and everyone else's puzzlement . Particularly since a lot of her near-accidents seemed to be lifted straight out of a cartoon, including, but not limited to, falling pianos, dynamite found in unexpected places, and an accident that almost led to Rollout running her over. And yet it was almost always Morph who got hurt instead. Which made everyone rather suspicious of Morph.  
Morph however was adamant. "I haven't done anything. Especially not the sort of things you're suggesting. I remember the last time, at April Fool's," he said, shuddering .

"Yeah, that was messy," said Matt, "But that doesn't explain why you're always at the receiving end of these things. And the 'accidents' always backfire on the person doing them in the cartoons."

"Which is why I definitely don't do them to Chloe," said Morph in a rare sign of intelligence...or self-preservation .

"Hmm...how can we be sure he's on the level?" asked Chris.

"Well, I could make him drink a truth serum, but it might reveal more than we want to hear," said Hannah.

"Good point. Plus, he's right, it's not his style," said Matt .

"Not to mention his capability," said Hannah, "I've looked where the piano, safe, washing machine, dryer, bathtub, and anvil have fallen and I couldn't find any sign of what was holding them up at all."

"Huh, that's about everything but the kitchen sink," said Chris. There was a whistling sound and Chloe yelped before leaping away. Predictably, a kitchen sink landed right on top of Morph's head.

"Ok...he's definitely innocent," said Matt, staring upwards . The ceiling had no hooks, no opening panels, nothing to hold that sink. It was as if the sink had simply appeared out of thin air.

"Dammit, I think I know who's responsible. Aria, do a sweep for that patchwork pest, Betrayl," snapped Matt, before Aria said "Later, sir. I intercepted an all point alert. A breakout at one of the Plumber maximum security centers."

"Let me guess, one of Ben's greatest enemies that we'll have to help him fight?" asked Matt dryly.

"Well, at least he'll be returning the favor in a manner of speaking," said Aria.

"What makes you say that?" asked Hannah.

"Because said prisoner was released by one of our...I'm not sure the term 'greatest' is what you would use, but definitely one of our more notable and obviously the one who was tailgating us through the wormhole," said Aria.

"Someone tailgated us?" snapped Matt.

"Did I forget to update you on that? Must have slipped my mind," said Aria.

"Smeg dammit. You could have told me about that!" snapped Matt .

"Well, considering you're constantly getting mixed up in misadventures, there seemed to be no good time to brief you about it while I had it in mind," said Aria, "Anyways, you ought to report to Plumber HQ for a full briefing about the escaped prisoner."

"Sure, let's tell em that we've hacked their comms," said Matt sarcastically, his anger causing his canines to be a little more pronounced as the mirror's effects tried to kick in

"Oh, I'm sure they'll be calling us any minute now," said Aria before saying, "Ah, speak of the devil, there's Magister Tennyson calling me now."

"Put him on," said Matt with a sigh .

Max's face appeared on the screen, "Matt, we have a situation."

"Of course, when do you ever call us about anything else?" snapped Matt, still not in a good mood. Max seemed to glare a little at that before the image changed to a mug shot. "Am I supposed to know who that is?" snapped Matt, his eyes glowing.

"Take a good look," said Hannah dully.

Matt glanced at the mug shot and said, "So? That's Ben from a few years ago. Big deal."

Chris waved a hand in front of Matt's face before saying, "Oh, right, forgot he's colorblind like that."

"It's a clone, clearly. He's got white hair plus the timestamp's from last month," said Chloe scathingly .

"Not quite," said Max, "That's Albedo, one of Azmuth's Galvan assistants who tried to make an Omnitrix for himself, only it didn't give him the default form he wanted. Now he's basically Ben's evil twin."

"Ok...what's this gotta do with us?" snapped Matt .

"Well, he's obviously been busted out by your tailgater," said Max before switching to a screenshot from one of the prison's cameras.

"Omnirus, not that surprising," said Chris, "How do you know that's not the current version?"

"I highly doubt that Albedo has been sprung by Omnirus's ghost," said Max.

"Wait...ghost?" said Matt, pausing.

Max nodding, "She was killed several years ago while during some large planetary battle."

"You must have been having a really bad day," said Chloe.

"Guess so. Do I want to know more about the details?" asked Matt.

"I don't think that would be wise," said Max, "I think that was a big enough spoiler already."

"Fine...ok, team. Let's go kill her again. I'm not in the mood," snapped Matt, stomping out .

"Uh, maybe I should stay back here. I'm not trusting my luck today," said Chloe.

"Oh there's nothing to worry about," said Morph as he walked out the door only for a guillotine blade to slide him in half.

"On second thought, I think I need some fresh air," said Chloe.

"Good, now get to it," said Matt .

...

Meanwhile, Omnirus wasn't able to tell which was more annoying to listen to; Albedo or Psychobos's home security AI. The AI's defenses had been impressive, but not really keyed to stop her. For once, the Avalarian DNA she's gotten from Chloe had come in quite useful, especially as most of the defenses were electrical-based.

"You really sh-sh-shouldn't bother with c-c-coming in," said the AI with Psychobos's voice, "My advanced lab equipment is too sophisticated for a p-p-pair of rouge scientists like yourselves to use, and I use the term loosely."

"Oh, shut up!" snapped Omnirus, shoving a dragon claw into a port and sending a blast of energy down the system .

"If I had my Galvan form, I could have broken through this self-opinionated security system in a few seconds," said Albedo, "Are we sure we want to use this cretin's lab? He obviously has more mouth than brains."

"You know, I thought you two had something in common," said Omnirus, her last nerve wearing thin.

With that, she turned as Albedo said, "Oh please...I doubt you can simply-" before Omnirus went full dragon and tore the main doors off their hinges . "Er, that is a most impressive specimen of, erm," started Albedo.

"Dragon, it's an Avalarian dragon," said Omnirus, "Very useful, I agree, but the problem with it is that the source of the DNA sample was female and dragon DNA tends to dominate over other strains. Which is why I bothered with busting you out of that jail so you can fix my Omnitrix and is the only reason I'm suppressing my urge to throw you into the jaws of a Vicetopus."

"I could easily-" began Albedo before he could stop himself, Omnirus snapping her jaws an inch from him. "Or I could just eat you now. Dragons need protein," she snarled .

"Uh, let's get to work, shall we?" said Albedo, "He does have an ample power source, correct?"

"A class 6 reactor, illegal of course but it should do the job," snarled Omnirus, shifting down to her current default form .

"Fine then," said Albedo before walking into the lab and looking around, "Hmm, his cleanliness has room for improvement, but I think I can work with this."

"Good, fix my Omnitrix or I'm having early dinner," snapped Omnirus, her temper at breaking point .

"Alright, alright, just lie on the table and let me take a look at it," said Albedo.

Omnirus nodded, getting on an examination table, though she glared at him as he approached. Albedo examined the Omnitrix through a monitor and said, "Well, you certainly haven't kept good maintenance of this matrix. Its DNA storage is extremely limited and what DNA strands are available have been merged with others. I suppose I'll have to fix that first."  
"No, the fusion thing's saved my bacon more than once. I just want my gender back," snapped Omnirus .

"I'm surprised. I bet there are many beings who'd be interested in exploring the opposite gender," said Albedo.

"Get on with it, you little pest or I'll bite your leg off, comprende?" snapped Omnirus .

"Fine, fine, I suppose the fusion aliens can be useful, like that Ben 10,000 was using," said Albedo. "Who?" asked Omnirus.

"No one of consequence because his future will be terminated once I destroy Ben Tennyson," said Albedo before he started in with the tools.  
Omnirus went a little bug-eyed at that, before covering her mouth. Having your very DNA messed with was surprisingly ticklish . Still, it soon became very hard for her to keep still and to keep her laughter in. "Quit squirming," said Albedo, "This is difficult enough work without you moving all over the place."

"I...can't...help it…" snapped Omnirus before howling with laughter .

"Hold still or you'll-" started Albedo before his cyber forceps hit a pair of circuits. A surge of molecular energy flowed out of the Omnitrix, zapping Omnirus from head to foot. "Uh oh, it's about to self-destruct!" yelped Albedo before running for it.  
"This...no longer...tickles!" yelped Omnirus, being jerked into various poses by the blasting before there was a flash of light, a dazed-looking and clearly feral dragoness looking around next to the table...and a pre-Chloe Omnirus petting himself down .

"It worked? Hey, it worked! I'm a guy again!" said Omnirus happily. The purple-scaled dragoness glanced around before giving a bored yawn and sliding off the table.  
"Erm...Omnirus?" said Albedo carefully as the dragoness turned to look at him with the sort of look someone gave a free hamburger.

"Sit!" barked Omnirus. The dragoness looked at Omnirus before shrugging and curling up to sleep. Omnirus hopped off the table "See? Perfectly safe. This one's just a dumb animal," he said before the dragoness calmly chomped over his upper half and shook him around before tossing him across the room.

"It can apparently understand you too," said Albedo scathingly .

"Anyways, I lived up to my end of the bargain, it's time you did yours," said Albedo, "Get my Ultimatrix working again."

"Oh, sure, no problem," said Omnirus.

With that, Omnirus staggered up, giving the dragoness, who was giving the air of a smug git, a wide berth before taking a look. "Huh...how long have you had this?" he asked, peering closely .

"A few months, it took a while to get all the parts for a working stabilizer and to get an operational evolutionary function," said Albedo.

"And you never bothered to check to do this?" said Omnirus in a bored tone, pulling out the power gem to Albedo's horror before putting it back in.

The Ultimatrix immediately started charging back up. "Of course, a hard reset, why didn't I think of that?" asked Albedo.

"Because you're a moron," said Omnirus simply .

Albedo glared at Omnirus and said, "I notice that you still haven't fixed my default form."

"Booting up your Ultimatrix was my turn, now it's your turn," said Omnirus, "Tell me more about this evolutionary function."

...

"Ok...3 minutes to target, sir," said a bridge officer, Matt nodding.

Ben walked in at that and asked, "Don't you think all that heavy artillery is a little overkill?"

"No, the last time I played it safe, a crazy Loboan cult stole a cruiser, and before that I got turned _into_ a Loboan, a problem yet to be rectified, I may add. So no, I don't think it's overkill. They try Ione piece of funny business, I'll shoot em myself," snapped Matt.

"Is it me or he is more brutish than usual today?" asked Skurd.

"I think Matt is starting to develop the domination obsession commonly found in alpha Loboans," said Rook.

"You mean like when someone blows up one of our fighters?" said Chris quietly as Matt lambasted a technician for not paying attention .

"Is he still sore about that cruiser being stolen?" asked Ben.

"Oh yeah. We found some...lists of what he'll do to that cultist guy when we catch him," said Chris, shuddering, "Poor guy, I actually hope we don't find him."

"You do recall he is in possession of several dangerous items which can be used to-" started Rook.

"Yeah, yeah, we get it, let's stop bringing it up before Matt goes rabid," said Chris.

"30 seconds to warp in. All teams to standby," said Aria calmly, the energy of the warp tunnel fading to show what looked like some kind of station.

"I got Aria to look at possible places. This lab met all the specs," said Matt, apparently calmer.

"That is excellent forethought," said Rook.

"Yep, Matt's definitely not himself right now," said Chris.

...

The lab alarm immediately began to wail, Albedo and Omnirus turning to see a small fleet warping in. "Oh smeg..." said Omnirus in a tiny voice .

"Well, there is some good news," said Albedo, his Ben form now closer to the real Ben's age, "Ben is on one of those ships. That saves us the trouble of finding him."

"Yeah, there's just the trouble of the giant super starship with mac guns that will go through us and incidentally, any planet behind us," snapped Omnirus .

"Not a problem," said Albedo as he went over to the computer, "If the good doctor who owned this place was as paranoid as I think he was...aha, there we are."

Immediately Psychobos's base AI said, "Magnetic shield online, you realize this won't stop them simply sending soldiers. Of course you don't."

"Now that I have my ultimate power back, their soldiers won't stand a chance," said Albedo, "They'll have to send in Tennyson if they want to capture me."

"Oh really, oi, computer, what's a HAVOC?" Snapped Omnirus, the computer saying "A what?"

"HAVOC, I assume that's an acronym for something unpleasant," said Albedo.

"Nuclear anti-ship missile," said Omnirus calmly .

"Then I think you're over-worrying the situation," said Albedo, "Captain Lynch is not ruthless enough to launch nuclear missiles at an inhabited planet, even if it is populated with those pompous Cerebrocrustaceans."

Omnirus's wristcomp beeped at that, "Alert...boarding pods detected."

"Still, it looks like we'll have to relocate," said Albedo as he started typing something into a computer, "I assume the Lynches have a unique energy signature."

"Yeah, their nanites stand out like a lighthouse at night, why?" asked Omnirus .

"It gives me something to lock on," said Albedo as he worked fast.

...

"All teams on board, looks like the internal defenses were disabled not long ago," said a technician on the bridge .

"Good, we have them cornered," said Matt.

"Weird, Albedo usually puts up more of a fight than this," said Ben.

"So does Omnirus," said Chloe.

"Guess we've caught them with their guard down," said Matt. "Ok, blast down the doors on the count of three. One, two..." said Matt before suddenly, he, Chloe, and Ben disappeared in a flash of green light.

...

The three of them reappeared on a small island in a dark swamp. "Three?" finished Matt.

Chloe looked around with sheer terror at that. "Ok...what just happened?" she asked .

"I think Albedo just beamed us to somewhere on the planet," said Ben.

"Very astute observation," said an identical voice to Ben's, "And here I always perceived you as a slow learner."

The trio turned to see a white-haired version of Ben, alongside a shadowed figure who said in a helmet-distorted voice "Just shoot em already, enough of the gloating."

"Oh, I'll be putting an end to them, just as soon as we've thoroughly demonstrated how we are superior," said Albedo.

"Gee, going out of your way just to get rid of little old me. Nice to see that you're finally lowering that humongous ambition of yours," said Ben.

"Who's your friend, clone boy?" asked Matt rudely .

"Don't tell me you've forgotten this face after all this time," said the figure before lifting the helmet, revealing a vaguely ursine face with Galvan eyes and long black hair.

"Omnirus, I see you've gotten your pronoun trouble taken care of," said Chloe.

"Yeah, and as I recall, you two were the reason I had that trouble in the first place," growled Omnirus.

"Nah, you were just greedy," sneered Matt .

"If you had let me taken your EXP AI instead of Silvia..." growled Omnirus.

"You'd be a total fruitcake," said Matt, "Trust me, you were lucky you sampled Chloe, even if it made you a bigger weirdo than before."

Omnirus snarled at that before turning to Albedo. "Matt is mine..." he snarled .

"And Ben is mine, as we agreed," said Albedo.

"Uh, I'll just sit over here then," said Chloe nervously.

"Oh no, I want another shot at draining you dry," snapped Omnirus .

"You won't be getting anything from me," said Chloe.

"Except another sex change," said Matt smugly.

"Fine, I'll just kill you after I turn your brother into a vegetable," snapped Omnirus .

"Overconfident, aren't we?" asked Matt.

"With good reason," said Omnirus, "Not only as my partner fixed my cosmetic problem, but my Omnitrix is now working exactly as it's supposed to now."

"Good...a challenge," said Matt, pulling out two SMG's and firing at Omnirus before Chloe or Ben could stop him .

Before the bullets could reach Omnirus, a force field sprung up. Where Albedo had stood floated some sort of big-brained alien with a hovercraft and a face that seemed somewhat like a Galvan's, its third eye glowing as it projected the force field. "What the heck is that?" asked Chloe.

"That's Albedo in his Ultimate form," said Ben.

"The twisted fiend has the power to evolve his aliens into savage combat-based monsters," said Skurd.

Omnirus glared before backhanding Albedo aside. "I said DON'T GET IN MY WAY...whoa," he snapped, jumping to the side as Matt finished reloading and opened up again .

He slapped his Omnitrix and morphed into Diamondblast. "Let's get this on," he said before shooting flaming crystals at Matt.

Matt glared and rolled to the side, firing some more, though his bullets did little other than chip Omnirus . "Not so tough without your dragon powers are you?" asked Omnirus before stabbing the ground with one arm. The ground beneath Matt soon got very warm.

Matt yelped jumping aside before Omnirus noticed that the yelp sounded rather lupine as steam from the new heat caused him to be obscured. "Playing hide and seek?" he sneered before a sonic howl sent him flying. "Ouch, that's not standard," groaned Omnirus, cracks appearing in his igneous armor.

A Loboan jumped through the smoke at that, holding the crushed remains of a SMG. "Grr...those guns were new," it snarled in a deeper version...but definitely Matt's voice .

"Huh, that's new," said Omnirus, "So, you want to have a dogfight, do you?"

With a flash, he was XLRWolf. "Now the playing fields are even. Oh, wait, I forgot I have one slight advantage," said Omnirus before zipping forward and hitting Matt faster than the eye could follow. Matt yelped, knocked badly, before a second blow was felt...and a third, and then a fourth as XLRWolf shot around him, before Matt snarled and tossed a black goo grenade in front of him, jumping to the side as XLRWolf was sent sprawling

"I certainly hope you haven't forgotten about me," said Albedo as he reappeared.

"I was just watching Matt for a while," said Ben as he fiddled with the Omnitrix, "And considering this is Brainstorm's homeworld, I think it's appropriate we open with him."

He slammed on the Omnitrix and shifted into Brainstorm. "Now, my cerebrally-inflated nemesis, it is time we begin our own quarrel," said Brainstorm.

Chloe yelped as the two began to exchange blasts. "Can't we talk this over?" she whimpered .

"Show some courage, woman," said Skurd, "Even I'm showing more backbone than you are and I'm a single-celled organism."

"Easy for you to say. You can't be killed." snapped Chloe .

"I intend to prove that wrong," said Albedo before shifting into Big Chill for a moment. Then a surge of red energy swept over his body as spikes appeared along the belt his Ultimatrix was on. The blue parts of Big Chill's body turned red while the edges of his wings, antenna, eye ridges, and pectorals gained a flame pattern.

"What the hell is that?" snapped Chloe

"A hyper-evolved Necrofriggian, obviously," said Albedo.

"I used to call him Ultimate Big Chill when I used to be able to turn into him," said Brainstorm.

"But Azmuth didn't let you keep the evolutionary function, did he?" taunted Albedo, "Thought it was too warlike for the Omnitrix. Just another example of his shortcomings as 'First Thinker'." Then he took in a deep breath and breathed out blue flames at Brainstorm. Brainstorm quickly scuttled backwards to avoid being hit by the flames, which hit the ground and covered it thickly with ice.  
Matt headbutted Omnirus before pushing him aside. "Hey, flames from ice don't make sense," he called .

"To be precise they are not truly flames in the conventional sense," said Brainstorm, "Rather they are a form of plasma that keeps itself fueled by 'burning' heat energy, leaving nothing but ice when they've 'burnt' themselves out."

"Oh...plasma, you say. That means it's really easy to dodge," said Matt cheerfully.

"Not as easy as you would think," said Albedo before sending a wave of ice flames at Matt.

Matt grinned, dodging the wave easily. "Please, you clearly don't know what I spent a year blasting people with," he laughed , Albedo glared before blasting at Matt with more flames. Matt jumped behind a rock before saying to himself, "That ice stuff could be useful. I wonder if this armor comes with a scanning option."

"Stay still!" snapped Albedo, before double taking as Matt jumped on a rock and made a 'nyer-nyer' expression. Albedo snarled before firing more ice flames at Matt, which actually hit him that time.  
"Hah...fina-" began Albedo before Matt's armor seemed to heat up, the ice exploding out.

"He does that a lot," said Chloe.

Matt brushed off some frost and said, "You're gonna need a bigger ice maker to keep me frozen."

"I just happen to have one," said Albedo before changing into Ultimate Articguana.

"Big deal, what can do that- WHOA!" yelped Matt before jumping back as Albedo fired giant ice crystals at him. "Ok that'll do it...BEEEEN!" yelled Matt as the blasts got closer and closer .

"Yes, I believe my counterpart's cold shoulder is making you quite uncomfortable. Therefore, I shall warm things up," said Brainstorm before tapping the Omnitrix and transforming into NRG.

"Time to get toasty," said NRG before firing heat beams at Albedo.

Matt grinned before he was hit from behind by Omnirus. "You humiliated me over and over AND OVER! I'LL ENJOY THIS!" he roared.

"Omnirus, wait, I don't even have that dumb AI anymore," said Matt as Omnirus clamped a hand over his head.

"Pardon if I make sure," said Omnirus as he started to drain from Matt.

Albedo paused in his fight as Ben also turned as some screaming was heard, only for Omnirus to fly between them, the screaming apparently coming from him.

Albedo sighed before saying to Ben, "Excuse me for a moment," before turning into Brainstorm himself, "Though I don't care much about what he's done to himself, I rather not be outnumbered so soon." He sent a bolt of brain energy which zapped Omnirus's head and made his eyes cross.  
Omnirus shuddered at that, coming too before looking at Matt who walked into a rock, from dizziness. "Ok...not doing that again," he said weakly .

"The attempt was ill-advised," said Albedo, "I suggest you content yourself with beating the living daylights of Matt. Perhaps a temporary exchange of opponents is in order?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, you work on Matt for a while," said Omnirus a little weakly.

Matt shook his head at that. "Say what now?" he asked before an energy bolt narrowly missed him. "Ah," he said weakly before running for it .

"You do not stand a chance against me," called Albedo, "Even the intellect of this inferior Cerebrocrustacean considerably overshadows your puny human thinking capacities."

"Well, you wanna know what I think about evil geniuses?" called Matt.

"I'd say 'enlighten me', but your piece of mind might bring me down a notch," said Albedo.

"I think they talk too much," said Matt before firing several plasma orbs at Albedo. Albedo yelped, scuttling to the side as Matt reduced a significant section of the ground around him to glass and steam. "I'M AT THE END OF MY TETHER AND I'M A LOBOAN WEARING A WEAPONZED EXOSUIT PREPARE TO DIE ALOT!" Matt screamed .

"It seems I've underestimated the ferocity of my opponent," said Albedo, "In which case, I should meet him with equal ferocity." He tapped his Ultimatrix and shifted into Ultimate Rath. The tiger-like alien leapt at Matt and slashed as him with two large claws on each hand.

Matt yelped, barely avoiding being cut in half, though he ended up with some nasty chest wounds. "Ok, ok, Rath, this guy must have a weakness," he said to himself, trying to keep away .

He quickly thought about all he knew about Appoplexians. The number one fact about them was their easiness to anger. Since Ultimate Rath had been evolved for combat, he's probably got an even shorter temper that Albedo was somehow keeping in check. Time to break out that old secret weapon; his temper-shredding tongue.

To that end, he jumped back onto a rock, saying, "I thought cats had great eyesight. I know Ben's better. Then again, the original's always the better version."

"Ben is a dimwitted child, he does not have the brains to make a clock, let alone an evolutionary function," snapped Albedo.

"Oh, I beg to differ. I know CPS had him on a possible candidate list. You didn't even make our 'idiot villains' list," laughed Matt, dodging a blow to get to another rock .

"Idiot? I am the greatest mind in five galaxies!" snapped Albedo.

"You're not even the greatest mind in this swamp," said Matt, "I bet even the dumb frogs in this swamp are smarter than you."

"Why you little...no...I won't lose it," Albedo said, though the fact he was clenching his fists seemed to indicate he was close to breaking.

"Let's face it, you're an idiot," said Matt in his ear, taking advantage of Albedo trying to hold things together to get close , "You can't match with anyone from Galvan Prime. Even Blukic and Driba are smarter than you and they barely pass common sense. You obviously flunked it." Matt finally said the magic words. "You can't even out think Ben," he taunted happily .

Albedo let out a loud roar of fury as he devolved into pure Appoplexian rage. "LET ME TELL YOU FIVE THINGS, CAPTAIN MATTHEW JAMES LYNCH!" roared Albedo, "Number one, I am way smarter than Blukic and Driba!"

"I'll give you that one," said Matt, smirking as he backed up towards something his Loboan senses had smelled earlier.

"Number two, despite appearances, I am not related to the amphibious creatures of this swamp and I'm far more intelligent than them!" snapped Albedo as he swiped at Matt, "Number three, your CPS is a broken-down government that's barely holding together!"

"Of course we are, we're mercs," snapped Matt, jumping back to avoid the blow, Ben calling out "Hey...watch out for-" before Chloe covered his mouth, spotting where they were going and Matt's intention .

"Number four, my eyesight is far more acute than yours, especially since I don't have to wear no stinkin' glasses!" snapped Albedo as he ripped up a small tree and swung it at Matt, "And number five, I AM NOT STUPIDER THAN BEN TENNYSON!"

"Number 5 is false," said Matt, standing on a rock and pointing to Albedo's feet, to where he was already waist deep and sinking fast. "Let me know how the fish are biting," called Matt, tossing a grenade in after Albedo .

There was a muffled boom under the quicksand before Matt turned and said, "Now then, back to our usual pain in the butt. Chloe, you want to take a crack at him?"

"Not a chance," snapped Chloe, causing Omnirus to turn to her .

"Maybe it's been a while since I last fought you, but that doesn't sound like the Chloe I know," said Omnirus.

"Never mind her, you've got more than enough to deal with," said Matt.

"Yeah, we've got you outnumbered two to one," said Ben.

"Well, it's time for me to even those odds," said Omnirus, "You see, Albedo did more than fix the bug in my default form, he got my Omnitrix working more properly, including unlocking the DNA set that I couldn't access before."

Matt paused at that, before counting on his claws. "One, two, three," counting off the forms .

"He means Ditto and Way Big," said Ben.

"Right...which ones are those again?" asked Matt.

"Let me just show you," said Omnirus before slamming on his Omnitrix. He quickly swelled up inside as his body shifted in form. When he stopped, he looked like a huge version of Ditto with Way Big's head fin, legs, and coloration. "Behold the awesome power of Biggo!" shouted Omnirus before looking down at Matt and Ben, only to see they weren't so far down. It seemed this hybrid form was about the size of a two-story house. "Huh, I was expecting him to be a lot taller," said Omnirus.  
Matt stared before making 'arf, arf' noises. It didn't take long for Omnirus to realize he was laughing his head off .

"Really? 'Biggo'? That's the dumbest name I've ever heard of," said Chloe.

"Don't blame me. Blame the numbskull who came up with the source forms' names," said Omnirus, pointing at Ben, "I mean, Ditto and Way Big, how can anyone work with that? I'll show you! You and your stupid idiot mutt!"

Omnirus covered his mouth as he realized what he said, more so as Matt paused and began to shake, growling like a chainsaw. "Erm...let's not do anything we'll regret or give us indigestion," he said desperately before Matt lunged at him .

Omnirus yelped before splitting in half as Matt leapt at him, letting him pass between. The two halves formed into two separate Biggos. "Oh, wait, he's part Splixson, as in he can clone himself," said Chloe.

"And don't forget about the To'kustar half," said one of the Biggos as he held his arms at right angles, one of the palms glowing.

Sadly, at this point. Matt proved he'd taken lessons from Megan at that point. "Ow, I call foul," squeaked the wounded Biggo.

"Big foul," squeaked the other Biggo.

"Oh yeah, the Ditto guys feel each other's pain," said Ben.

"Really? I haven't noticed it with your Splixson form," said Skurd.

"Azmuth fixed that glitch for the new Omnitrix. Omnirus's is based on the old Omnitrix."

"PUMMEL THEM!" yelled Matt angrily, clearly just holding ferality at bay before he jumped on his victim .

"Go for the head fin, that's their weak point!" called Ben. Matt nodded, before biting down on his Biggo's fin .

Both Biggos yelled in pain, clutching their heads. "Get off, get off!" they both yelled.

Matt had settled for bashing his Biggo's head on a rock, screaming, "Say uncle, either of you!"

The Biggo that wasn't being assault managed to hit his Omnitrix, causing both aliens to disappear in a flash of green light. Matt easily landed on his feet and turned to face Diamondblast. Matt's eyes narrowed before saying "You tried that already." before he sonic blasted Omnirus

Omnirus staggered back and said, "Albedo has done more than just fixed my Omnitrix, he also gave me a neat upgrade. Any form would have worked, but I like this one the most." With that, he twisted his Omnitrix until the face popped out a bit before pressing it back down. Green light swept over the Diamondblast form as it started to shift. He grew up a foot in height and became considerably bulkier, particularly the torso. The crystalline portions of his body hardened into obsidian as more spikes came out of his back. But the most notable change was the volcanic cone that emerged from the center of his chest, rather like a tank turret, the Omnitrix sitting just above it with four ore-like veins spreading from it. A flame appeared around the head as Omnirus said, "Now, let's see you fight against Ultimate Diamondblast."

Matt cocked his head, before lunging at Omnirus's Ultimatrix symbol. "Never leave the off switch in full view," he snapped.

Omnirus grabbed Matt's hands before they could touch the Omnitrix, though the heat from his fiery fists were insulated by Matt's armor. The two of them struggled, temporarily at a standstill.

While this was going on, the quicksand bubbled before Albedo pulled himself out. He paused to get some air before roaring, "You are dead meat, Matthew Lynch!"

The shock caused Omnirus to stop pushing against Matt, sending Matt faceplanting into the symbol and causing a blaze of energy that caused both of them to check. When the smoke cleared, Omnirus was patting himself over to see if he was alright. "No fair, I didn't try to force Ben to change back when I was fighting him," complained Omnirus, "Albedo, I thought you would have made this thing tamper-proof."

However, when he turned to Albedo, he noticed the evolved Appoplexian was growling savagely while everyone else was backing up. He slowly turned to see Matt trying to get back up, red energy crackling over him every second or so, causing him to twitch. "Erm...ok," said Omnirus, checking his Omnitrix and hoping he wouldn't see what he expected...which he found: the ultimate form for his Loboan DNA was missing, 'downloaded to external device' according to the message. "Why me?" he moaned before yelping as Matt grabbed him and pulled him eye to eye.

"Back off, I'm still a lot stronger than you are," growled Omnirus. Just then, there was a sound like a bunch of electric firecrackers going off and Matt let out a yelp. He looked behind him to see that his tail was now covered in blue and black-striped skin like a Kineceleran.

He turned back to glare at Omnirus who had also spotted the problem and was seeing to his horror that a form was missing. "Hey, that's mine!" he snapped as Matt twitched again .

Quite predictably, his feet shifted next. This worked to Omnirus's favor since Matt had never been good with roller skates. "Wow...wowowowowow!" yelped Matt, skittering in place before falling on his back .

Omnirus landed on his feet and said, "I'll be wanting that form back eventually. But first, back to business." With two slaps, he was back to Ultimate Diamondblast. "Now, where were we?" he asked.

"Hey, I get to mangle him first!" snapped Albedo, "Nobody calls Albedo stupid and gets away with it!"

Omnirus thought it over before saying, "Ok, you can tenderize him while I cook his sister."

Chloe yelped at that, backing up with Ben. "I can't fight that!" she yelped, before pausing and looking at Ben's Omnitrix. "Hey, I got an idea. Show me that watch," she said, adding, "And set it to Rath."

"Isn't one of those brutish tigers enough?" asked Skurd.

"Just do it!" snapped Chloe.

"Ok, just a sec," said Ben as he started dialing through his aliens.

"Please hurry," said Chloe as she spotted the volcanic cone on Omnirus's chest warming up. She looked back to see Ben about to slam down before snapping "No, me!" sticking her fingers into the display and getting a discharge .

"That reminds a lot of what Kevin used to do...which gives me a really bad feeling about this," said Ben.

"Oh...eep...tingly..." gibbered Chloe, staggering back .

The first notable change was Chloe's eyebrows suddenly getting longer and quill-like. This was soon followed with fur growing over her face as it pushed out into a tiger-like muzzle. Her body bulked up with extra muscle before a pair of large claws came out of her knuckles.

"This tingles...Chloe does not like being tingled," said Chloe, her voice getting a little more husky...oh and angry too.

Omnirus had ceased his attack, a part of him realizing that trouble was probably about to arrive. "It's not fair...it's just not fair," he moaned .

"This armor's too tight! Chloe does not like being in armor that's too tight for her muscles!" growled Chloe as she struggled with her armor.

"Uh, I think it has a release command or something," said Ben.

"Of course it does, Ben Tennyson, do I look stupid to you?!" snapped Chloe.

Omnirus, automatically muttered, "If it looks like a xenomorph and mauls like a xenomorph...oopsie..." covering his mouth as the transforming Chloe turned to glare at him. "Erm...it's a term of endearment in tantalog?" he tried nervously .

"Get off of me, you stupid constraining armor!" yelled Chloe.

"Voice command accepted," said the armor's computer before it opened up. Chloe pulled it off of her, now looking like a female version of Rath.

"That's more like it," said Chloe, "Now let me tell you something, Omnirus who is currently in the form of an ultimate version of Diamondblast-" She was interrupted when Omnirus blasted her with a fountain of lava from his volcanic cone.  
"She talks too much...and that was surprisingly easy," said Omnirus evilly, walking towards Ben. "Oh look, she hijacked that form from you. She'll make a good statue at my eventual compound," he said evilly, tapping the hardened lava statue before yelping as a fist burst out and grabbed him by the throat. "Then again, I've been known to make mistakes before," he croaked before Chloe burst out .

"Did you just try to cook Chloe? Chloe does not like being cooked!" snapped Chloe before punching Omnirus in the face several times.

Omnirus gibbered, "Little teapot in the sky, why has the monkey got to fly?" spitting a diamond tooth out. Chloe then tossed Omnirus to the ground and started stomping on him.

"Ok, I think she's got Omnirus covered. How's Matt dealing with Albedo?" asked Ben.

Meanwhile was trying to get the hang of his still-appearing XLRWolf form, an imprint in a boulder tantamount to this testing. Albedo was just watching. "Should I start or do you wish to do my fighting for me?" he said scathingly .

"Hang on, I'll get this," said Matt, "It's been a while since I've been to the roller rink, but my instincts should be supplying the instructions any second now."

"Fine, I'll start," said Albedo, picking up a large rock as Matt staggered up and throwing it. The rock landed with a loud crash, squashing everything it landed on. "Huh, Matt Lynch isn't as tough as they say he is," said Albedo.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that..." said a voice beside him. Albedo turned to see Matt right next to him, now fully XLRWolf. Albedo glared and aimed a punch, only for Matt to suddenly be on his other side. "I can see why Omnirus loves this one. Whatta rush," Matt said cheerfully .

"Hold still, will ya?" snapped Albedo as he swiped at Matt again.

"Now why would I do that?" laughed Matt, zooming back and forth before dealing a few speed blows to Albedo . Albedo growled before suddenly putting one a whole lot of mass as Ultimate Gravattack. Matt froze and said, "Now that's overcompensating."

"And this will be overkill," said Albedo as he lifted Matt up in the air.

"LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, GRAVITY-CONTROLLING BEN CLONE. NOBODY MESSES WITH MY BROTHER!" yelled a deeper but still female voice before a much larger rock hit the back of Albedo's head .

Albedo turned around to look at Chloe. "A rock? You think you can harm an evolved Galilean with a rock?" asked Albedo incredulously.

"Not one rock, lots of rocks!" yelled Chloe as she started hurling them at Albedo. Of course, those rocks just ended up in an orbit around him.

"Way to go, nice to see the makeover got all that new mass from your brain," said Matt icily .

"Say, Matt, you do know that you can get out of orbit by reaching escape velocity, right?" asked Ben.

"Yeah, so? Oh..." said Matt before he maneuvered himself onto Albedo's surface before running across it really, really fast.

"Hey...stop that...you're making me dizzy...I SAID STOP!" Snapped Albedo, trying to swipe at Matt before Matt shot off and skidded to a halt next to Ben.

"Ok, this is getting silly. You gotta have something to stop these guys. We'll be here all week otherwise," he said, not noticing he was talking at high speed .

"Yes, we've wasted enough time in this swamp as it is," said Skurd.

"Time? Time! Duh, why didn't I think of it before?" asked Ben before dialing his Omnitrix. With a flash, he turned himself into Clockwork.

"Is that thing really organic? Looks like a robot to me," said Matt.

"It is technorganic and he's exactly what ve need right now. As soon as Chloe gets out of ze way, ve can get to vurk," said Clockwork.

Matt nodded, zooming over to Chloe. "Party'soverbyeOmnirus," he said, shooting off with a surprised Chloe, Omnirus saying dizzily "Bye Santa..."

"Alright, zis should feel very veird," said Clockwork before he started projecting green rays from his hands as his key spun counterclockwise. Albedo and Omnirus shook in place before they suddenly started changing through the forms they had used in reverse order. After a while, they were both back in their default forms for an extended moment before they changed back to their damaged default forms. Clockwork powered down the time ray and said, "Vell, zat should do it."

Omnirus shook her head before looking down. "No...NO...NONONONONO!" she screamed.

Matt said, "She's part dragon like that, just so you know. Probably not the best plan."

"At least Albedo's Ultimatrix is nonfunctional now," said Clockwork before changing back.

Albedo was already futilely pounding on his Ultimatrix. "No, no, not this again!" he yelled, "You will pay for this, all of you!"

Chloe picked him up by his shirt front and said, "I have had just about enough from you, little man."

"You wouldn't attack me. I'm a defenseless child now," said Albedo smugly.

Chloe thought about it for a second and said, "Ok, you got a point there. But since you're a little kid again, I'm gonna treat you like one."

"What do you mean by- No, no, not that, anything but that! No!"

Both Matt and Ben looked away as the sound of loud smacking filled the air. "Ow, that was harsh," said Ben.

"I'd try and stop her but I don't think she's in a reasonable mood right now," said Matt. On cue, two pelican dropships flew overhead. "Plus, our ride's here," he said cheerfully .

Chloe dropped Albedo, who was rubbing his sore bottom in pain. "Took you long enough!" snapped Chloe, "What were you doing, placing bets on who would win?"

"I hope this wears off soon," said Matt, Chloe going bug-eyed before turning back with a flash of energy. "That...was very weird," she said, a beep from bens Omnitrix indicating Rath was back where he belonged .

"Speaking of which, when will this wear off?" asked Matt, looking at his XLRWolf hands.

"Well, technically, Omnirus would have already gotten that form back when I rewound him...her, but I think we can make her Omnitrix-" started Ben before looking to see that Omnirus was gone.

"Darn," said Matt gloomily .

"Well, at least we got one villain bagged," said Chloe, "I'm sure we can find a way to fix you back at the medlab."

...

Luckily, it wore off by the time the gang got back to the ship, though Matt was apparently incredibly hungry .

"Matt, maybe you should ease off on the sweets," said Chip, "You don't have a dragon's metabolism anymore."

"Gotta eat." gibbered Matt.

Ben said, "I guess he's not completely turned back yet. XLR8 burns through alot of energy."

"I'm just thankful this is temporary," said Chloe, "Imagine if he was this jumped-up all the time."

"Speaking of temporary, I see you've gotten your spine back," said NegaMorph.

"Well, after being an alien with more courage than good sense, it kinda evens out your perception on things," said Chloe.

Nobody noticed Mina looked annoyed at that before she said, "Nice one...was it fun being a supertiger?"

"Well, yeah, kinda wished I spent a little less time bashing the bad guys in a blind rage," said Chloe, "But it really relieved my stress."

"That's the spirit..." said Matt, before faceplanting into the table.

"Food coma," said Draco and Chip in unison .

Just then, Matt started twitching. "Oh boy, somebody better get the hypogen," said Chloe.

Just then, Matt seemed to disappear in a whoosh. "Uh, where did he go?' asked Draco.

"I'm over here, no I'm here, no here, no here," said a voice as something zipped around the room at high speed. Chris rolled his eyes before sticking his foot out. The blur tripped over it and landed on the floor, revealing itself to be a Kineceleran wearing Matt's clothes.

"I'm gonna my eyes again and when I look, it better just be regular Matt," groaned NegaMorph.

"Nope, guess some of that energy got into his nanites. I'm impressed, takes alot for stuff to override NSC nanites," said Chris, poking Matt .

"Hey guys, check it out, I'm an XLR8 or whatever they're called. I can move really quickly, you wanna see?" asked Matt rapidly before zipping to the other end of the room and back, "Wow, I just feel so full of energy right now. I bet I can run to the other end of the ship in about a minute. Catch you guys later," said Matt before dashing away.

"I give him 10 minutes before he crash and burns," said NegaMorph .

"He'll cool down eventually, I think," said Ben, "Besides, he's still got that Loboan problem and I bet he can't stay a Kineceleran all the time."

"I think I'll take the coyote over the roadrunner any day," said Draco.

...

To say that Omnirus was in a foul mood would be a severe understatement. Still, she was able to keep her cool until the Novus Star left the Encephalonus system. But when she let loose, boy did she let loose. If she had any less self-control, Psychobos's lab would probably be in ruins. Instead, the area around it was being heavily damaged by Omnirus's rage.

"It's not fair! It's not fair!" she screamed as she incinerated another tree, "I had gotten myself in working order, unlocked powers I couldn't touch before, had access to abilities I didn't have, why couldn't I beat them?!" A bolt of lightning scorched another tree. "What is it about the Lynches that makes them so unbelievably lucky?"

"Perhaps it is because you're too far given into rage," said a voice.

Omnirus turned and snapped, "Who said that?" She turned to the feral dragoness, who was not reabsorbed into the Omnitrix. "Was that you?" she asked. The dragoness blinked before yawning and curling up for a nap.

"That beast can't talk, stupid, but I haven't arrived quite yet so you vouldn't know better," said the voice.

"What do you mean you haven't arrived yet?" demanded Omnirus.

"I just vanted to send you a message in advance before you freaked out," said the voice, "Trips through time can be disorienting for all parties."

Just then, a bluish portal opened a couple of feet in front of Omnirus. Omnirus shielded her eyes as she saw something emerge from the portal. It looked like Clockwork, but its coloration was grey instead of bronze. She had heard something about a rogue Chronosapian, but she hadn't put much attention into it before now. "Are you Maltruant?" she asked.

"No, but I can see vhere you might confuse me vith him," said the figure before the portal closed behind him. With the light gone, Omnirus could see that this being shared as many features from NRG as it did from Clockwork. The basic body shape was most Clockwork, but the helmet shape, face plate, plating, and the red glow from the crystal window were that of NRG. Most noticeably, there was a different symbol on the chest where the Omnitrix would be: a square shape standing on one corner, half of it green, half black, with a line of the opposite color passing partially through each half.

"Who are you?" asked Omnirus.

"If you are asking about who this form is supposed to be, I vould call him NRClock," said the being, "But you're probably wondering about my actual identity." It tapped the icon on its chest and there was a flash of green light. When Omnirus looked again, a being that looked a lot like an anthropomorphic lion was standing there. There were a couple of noticeable differences such as green eyes with hourglass-shaped pupils, long horns curving over his head and black mane, his legs ending in cloven hooves, and a large three-eyed snake for a tail. He was dressed in a black armor that covered his torso, his shoulders, and his upper legs. Most noticeable of all was his robotic right arm, which had the square logo on the gauntlet.

"Wait, you're the future Omnirus, aren't you?" asked Omnirus.

"Actually, my name is now Amalgirus, but I am from the future," said the being.

"Ha, I knew I wasn't really dead in this time," said Omnirus.

"Appearances can be deceiving," said Amalgirus.

"And you're here to help get revenge on Chloe and the rest, right?" asked Omnirus.

"You ought to know how often that time travel double-teaming works out," said Amalgirus, "Besides, we've got bigger concerns than that."

"What could be bigger than them?" asked Omnirus dismissively.

"Planning for your future," said Amalgirus, "For starters, you're going down a path that goes nowhere."

"Oh, this isn't one of those 'I should give up my evil ways' guilt trips things, is it?" groaned Omnirus, "Because I am not gonna forgive the Lynches that easily."

"Neither have I. But I've learned to prioritize, to think ahead further than to what I'm going to destroy next," said Amalgirus, "The way you're going is a _dead_ end."

Omnirus paused when she heard him that much emphasis on 'dead'. "How can I be sure you're the real deal? You could be some attempt to manipulate me," said Omnirus.

"Who else would be here? If you're expecting someone to reform you, it's not Christmas and there aren't any other ghosts," said Amalgirus, "If you want to have a future, you need to put aside your vendettas and start thinking ahead."

"Yeah, I don't see that happening any time soon," said Omnirus sourly.

Amalgirus sighed and said, "I knew you wouldn't agree with me this time, cause I was you last time. Just keep your mind open. You'll meet me again later and I think you'll be in a better mood to consider my warning."

Just then, the dragoness let out a belch in her sleep causing both Omnirus and Amalgirus to look at her. "Well, I guess I'll be taking this oversized cat with me," said Omnirus. The dragoness opened one eye briefly before snorting a small lightning bolt at Omnirus.

"Oh, I'll take her off your hands," said Amalgirus, "She won't be too hard for me to handle."

"And what are you going to do with her?" asked Omnirus who was patting her frizzled hair down.

"I was wondering about that since when I first met…uh, me, but I think I have an idea now," said Amalgirus before handing Omnirus a device, "This will get you back to your proper timeline. It's one-use and already preset so don't fiddle with it." With that, he walked over to the dragoness who looked at him with interest. "Ok, girl, let's take you home," said Amalgirus before tapping the square logo and turning into NRClock. There was a flash of chronal energy and he and the dragoness disappeared.

Omnirus looked at the device and snorted. "Well, busting out Albedo again wouldn't be easy. They'll probably triple the guards at whatever prison they'll be taking him next. Not really worth it. Might as well start heading back home."

* * *

There's another chapter, which gives us a glimpse of what's to come in more ways than one. Betrayl is far from done with playing and there's no telling what she'll be doing next. It's not likely that we'll be seeing Omnirus anytime soon and Amalgirus is still but a distant vision, though I do hope to find some way to incorporate him into a story. Anyhow, keep an eye out for next week's update and please review.


	9. Facere Divitiae

**Reticence Saga**

**The Aliens Within**

**Chapter 9: Facere Divitiae**

The Friedkin University library was known to have vast stores of knowledge involving the arcane, which has expanded even more since Hex has added his collection to it. So it should come to no surprise that there would be those who'd be seeking forbidden knowledge there. In particular, a red armored figure who somehow looked like both a knight and a ninja was quietly cutting a hole through one of the windows.

The knight moved along. This was not the first time it had broken in, nor would it be the last. It reached for the target book before suddenly the lights came on to see a Kineceleran sitting on the bookshelf. "Boo, library's closed," it said, zooming to the side as the knight fired several knives at it, before it looked down to see the Kineceleran had placed a beeping disk on it . "Zappity zap-zap," said the Kineceleran before electricity arced from the disc. The knight writhed silently before its opponent shot forward again, spinning round and dealing out a dozen or so blows.

Then the knight reached out and grabbed the Kineceleran by the tail. The alien paused and said, "Oh, you want to go for a ride? Why didn't you say so?" With that, he started speeding around the library, dragging the knight behind him.

The far door burst open, several Novus Star marines, Chris, and Lucky Girl came in. "Urgh, when is this gonna wear off? Matt's bad enough at normal speed," Chris groaned, a shower of books going into the sky, marking the path of Matt's victim .

"As I mentioned before, Matt's exposure to Omnirus has bound Kineceleran DNA to the same nanites that have been infested by the Anur mirror," said Aria through his wristcomp, "It seems that Matt's condition goes through cycles that last depending on energy excursion, anger levels, and other possible factors. But there's a good chance that he'll be switching forms very soon."

"In that case, given he ate 20 minute ago..." said Chris, he and his team aiming their rifles as Matt shot into view, and turned back, the knight looking confused from holding nothing but air. "Hi, we're the NSC," said Chris, before he and his team opened fire .

Several shots penetrated the knight's armor, making sparks fly as more machinery was exposed. "If you blast him to scrap, we're not gonna get any data out of him," said Lucky Girl.

"Relax, we're professionals. We know how to avoid damaging a robot's processor," said Chris.

The group however were forced to scatter as the knight began firing more daggers . Lucky Girl lifted a hand and chanted, "Laminis Mollire!" The daggers glowed before they started bouncing out of whatever they hit instead of sticking in them.

The Red Knight jumped back before firing several shots at a window and leaping up to the ledge even as the marines started firing again . "After him!" shouted Matt, "Don't let him get away!"

"Lynch, you're still on the post-speed burn. You can barely stand," said Chris .

"I'll be fine, I just need to a moment to adjust," said Matt.

"Then why are you still on the floor?" said Chris smugly .

"Because my head's still spinning," said Matt.

A marine ran back, holding a book. "Jerk is gone, but I found what he was after," he said, tossing it to Lucky Girl/Gwen .

Lucky Girl looked at it and said, "Flammel's Manuel of Transmutation, why are the Forever Knights so interested in alchemy all of a sudden?"

"Because their leader's a giant ape?" suggested Matt, being helped up, before he twitched, his eyes turning back to his current default, two yellow orbs.

"There are more effective ways for Chadwick to change himself back than with alchemy," said Lucky Girl.

"Yeah, by using some alien tech or seeing an expert. Wait, my mistake, his little club doesn't like aliens and they're too proud to go to them for help," said Matt sarcastically.

"Urgh...keep the speed smartassery to a minimum please," muttered Chris .

"Fine, as long as you guys lay off the dog jokes," snapped Matt.

"Well, what else could come out of that book?" asked Chris, looking at the book .

"It's just some basic transmutation formulas, alchemy's not that powerful," said Gwen.

"It's a crying shame to hear you young people say that." Everyone jumped and turned to see the school's janitor raking nearby...indoors. "I mean, those alchemists put a lot of hard work into their work, that takes real skill, not like all the 'poof, zap, and bang' everyone does these days," said the janitor.

"Yeah, plus, I can't agree with that either. Just ask Murphy," said Matt .

"Murphy who? You mean that 'anything that could happen will happen' guy? He was not that popular at parties," said the janitor.

"No...as in Slughead Murphy," said Matt .

"Oh, yeah, him, poor guy," said the janitor.

"Hey, no mind reading!" snapped Matt on automatic .

"Gwen, who is this guy?" asked Chris.

"First, don't call me Gwen when I'm Lucky Girl. Second, it's Gwendolyn, not just Gwen. And third, that's Bezel," said Gwen.

"Bezel, Bezel, that rings a bell," muttered Matt.

"Oh, such a shame when the younger generation doesn't know you," said the janitor before Chris snapped "Ok, enough, who the hell are you?"

The janitor sighed before saying, "You ever hear of the Charms of Bezel?"

"Yeah, those talisman things that always keep getting destroyed?" asked Matt.

"Who do you think makes them?" asked the janitor before in a flash of golden light, he was now wearing a wizard outfit.

Matt stared before groaning, "Magic...I hate that stuff."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. There's no real rules or boundaries, just a big cheat," said Bezel.

"Not to mention I always get changed into something or hexed or something," said Matt.

"Oh, you're probably not that careful then," said Bezel casually.

Matt twitched at that, his ears getting pointed. "Really?" he said darkly .

"Yeah, sounds like you're the accident-prone type," said Bezel.

"Huh, what would you know?" snapped Matt, before instantly wishing he hadn't said that .

"Oh, a lot, wanna see something I know?" asked Bezel. Matt winced back, expecting some disproportionate magical punishment. Bezel held up a deck of cards and said, "Pick a card, any card."

Matt stared before glaring. "Seriously?" he said equally dark before grabbing a card .

"Ok, keep it your mind, don't forget, but don't tell me," said Bezel before taking the card back and shuffling around the deck and then tossing it in the air. He snatched one card and showed it to Matt, "Is this your card?"

Matt glared before saying, "Wizard, my arse. Insane person, maybe."

"Now there's no reason to be rude," said Bezel before there was a puff of smoke and Matt fluttered to the floor as a Jack of Clubs card.

"Ok, joke's over. Turn him back," said Chris angrily .

"Ok," said Bezel before snapping his fingers and Matt poofed back.

"Ok, he's a wizard, but I've not lifted my verdict on 'insane'," said Matt.

Chris, looking at the book again, was checking its index. "Thank God for reprints..." he said before pausing, letting the book go and drawing his blaster, set to thermal.

"That ninja's still here, isn't he?" asked Gwen, "I can't detect non-living things as well as living things." To everyone's surprise though, Chris blasted the book instead. "Hey, that's a library book!" snapped Gwen.

Chris however seemed a little zoned out, not even resisting when a couple of marines grabbed him and pulled his gun away, one picking up an intact page. "Ah smeg, Philosopher Stones," the marine said darkly.

"The Philosopher's Stone?" asked Gwen, "But no one's ever made one, at least not very good ones." Matt noticed that Bezel got a bit shifty-eyed at that.

"These things are Class Z: destroy on sight. Guess Chris's old bosses decided to put the orders straight in with flash training," said Matt, clicking his fingers in front of Chris who snapped out of it .

"Were you guys that worried about someone ruining the price of gold?" asked Gwen.

"No, gold's a cheap metal in Nullspace. We're more worried about someone making a bioweapon or something else equally nasty," said Matt harshly .

"I thought the only other thing the Stone could do was make the Elixir of Life," said Gwen, "Not much of a bioweapon."

"Yeah...pour that stuff in a graveyard and watch the brain-munching," said Matt .

"Wouldn't it just bring anyone back to life?" asked Gwen.

"Only if it was used the right way by the right people," said Bezel, "And most Philosopher's Stones aren't strong enough to do that. What most people would get is a chuck of material that can make metal shinier and extend life just a little longer."

"Or make an army of the brain-munching undead," said Matt scathingly, adding, "And that's why making one in the NSC earns you, not the admiration of the multiverse, but several government assassins."

"So what would Chadwick want with one?" asked Gwen.

"Eternal life, all the gold he can eat," said Matt, checking his fingers .

"Somehow I doubt he decided to take up alchemy on a whim," said Gwen.

"Well, he did turn into King Hyde, he's not exactly what most people would call clear-minded," said Matt.

"Which means we gotta find him. What are the ingredients for this thing?" said Chris .

"How should I know? You just destroyed the book," said Gwen.

Matt looked over at Bezel at that. "He knows," he said calmly before adding, "I've seen too much people to not spot when someone's hiding something...and he twitched when we mentioned Stones."

"Oh, I stopped fiddling with alchemy a long time ago, can barely remember some of the best formulas. I'm not even sure where I left the last Philosopher's Stone I made," said Bezel.

"You actually made some?" snapped Matt, as if Bezel had just admitted to smoking in a fireworks factory.

"I dabbled in the art, got some weird results. Like one Stone would only turn iron to silver and another one made Elixir of Life that only worked on bugs. Well, spiders, centipedes, and other arthropods, but it's not that useful unless you have an ant farm," said Bezel.

"Ok, you're nuts. Did you keep notes?" asked Matt carefully .

"What self-respecting magician didn't keep notes on their work?" asked Bezel.

"Ok, did you _keep_ your notes?" asked Matt.

"Yes...maybe...somewhere..." said Bezel.

"Oh God, we've met the creator of magical yellowcake and he can't remember where he kept his notes," moaned Matt .

"Oh you try and remember where you've left something after 500 years," snapped Bezel.

"That's the trick. I don't leave stuff like that where NUTTERS CAN FIND IT!" yelled Matt in Bezel's face.

"Oh I made sure to hide the Stone they want as well as I hid the Alpha Rune," said Bezel.

"Uh, as in before Adwaita found it and used it to conquer Ledgerdomain?" asked Gwen.

"Yes, but I hid it in an even better place now. A place no one would think to look," said Bezel.

"That's a death knell right there. It's probably already been found," said Matt darkly before adding, "Do you happen to remember where?"

"Hmm...something to do with sea life, big sea life," said Bezel.

"So it's guarded by a sea serpent at the bottom of the ocean, great," groaned Matt.

"No, no, not the ocean, let's see, big sea life, squids, sharks, turtles..." muttered Bezel.

"Whales?" guessed Gwen.

"That's it! Whales! Did I give it to a whale?"

"I think you mean the country Wales," said Gwen.

"Oh, yeah, now that makes more sense," said Bezel.

"Fantastic...field trip," said Matt, twitching a little.

"We're obviously gonna need some archeological help here," muttered Chris.

"Who do we need to get?" said Matt, his face with patches of blue scales.

"Uh oh, that was quick," said Chris carefully .

"Oh, we're also gonna need a coven. I remember that it takes either three magic users to open the way," said Bezel, "You might have to get a few people."

"And you don't count?" asked Chris.

"Hey, I can't be solving every little problem. How will anybody learn?"

"Fine, Gwen counts as one, we need two more victims...and I know the first one," said Matt, turning on his com, "Megan? Get Hannah, you and her have a job to do."

"Do I have to work with her?" groaned Megan's voice.

"Yes, where are you two?" said Matt, his left eye twitching.

"Oh, miles away from where you are," said Megan nonchalantly.

"Exact location please...for both of you," said Matt .

"Don't known where she is and don't care," said Megan huffily.

"Ok, coming to you," said the now fully-mutated Matt before he shot out in a blur, a second later, a shell-shocked Megan standing in the library, and looking a little pale.

"A little warning could have been appreciated," said Megan a little dizzily.

"I called you, that should be warning enough," said Matt. With that, Matt vanished again in a blur before shooting back.

"You know I can fly, right?" asked Hannah.

"Yeah, but you don't have jet speed," said Matt.

Bezel said at that, "Nobody mentioned a demoness." a little annoyed .

"She's a noble demon," said Matt, "Well, as noble as you can get from my gene pool. She is on our side."

Bezel walked forward and took an uncomfortably long look at Hannah, who just glared back for her credit. "Fine, she'll do," he said, back to his cheerful self again .

Chris glanced at Gwen and asked, "Aren't you surprised?"

"Well...maybe we met them earlier," said Gwen.

Hannah looked over at Gwen. "Never met you before in my life," she said loftily, earning a clonk across the back of the head.

"Hey, human emotions," snapped Matt.

"It's ok, nothing big," said Gwen, "I just need to grab my bag and I'm ready to go."

Matt vanished for a second before returning, bag in hand. "Ok, let's go, I'll race the ships there," he said, before Chris managed to grab him. "Ok, that's enough, when's Azmuth gonna send that damn suppressor?" he snapped before yelping as he vanished along with Matt .

"How comes Matt hasn't been going Loboan lately?" asked Megan.

"Because his suppressor's already set to Loboan DNA and his Kineceleran DNA doesn't have anything holding it back," said Hannah, "I would have thought you'd have figured it out on your own." Megan glared at Hannah. Hannah turned to look at Megan. "At least I don't blow myself up with a bodged spell every other day," she said smugly .

Megan's glared intensified, especially as her eyes turned red and extra ones appeared on her face. "Now, now, calm down, ladies," said Bezel, "Let's all take in a deep cleansing breath."

Both of them turned to snap "SILENCE!" before going back to their glaring contest .

"Have they been doing that long?" asked Gwen.

"Oh, not too long," said Chloe as she casually reading a book, "Hannah only joined the crew a few weeks ago. And that's when it really kicked off."

Hannah said, "Are we sure we need an amateur?"

"Oh like you've become an instant expert after putting on that armor," said Megan.

"As a matter of fact, I have," said Hannah smugly.

"THAT'S IT!" yelled Megan, muttering something.

"Oh please, like you can do anything that can harm me, harm yourself more likely," said Hannah.

"Let's see how you like being a rat for a few days!" snapped Megan, muttering something in a dark language before there was a flash of purple light and smoke.  
Megan could be heard coughing from it, before she said, "Hah, I'm still me. How do you like that, ratfink?"

"Obviously, you need to check your spelling. Nothing happened," said Hannah's voice smugly.

"What? Ah, dammit," said Megan's voice before there was a yelp, what looked like a purple-furred spider thing scuttling out the smoke.

Chloe glanced over with a bored look on her face before taking one look at the spider thing and suddenly jumping up onto the nearest table and yelping, "Kill it, kill it, kill it!"

"Hold it, I'll get the damn thing," said Megan's voice before screaming as this time a rather cuddly bat thing with spiral eyes flapped into view, hovering in front of Gwen before making a foghorn noise and flying out the open window .

"Ok, what's going on here?" asked Gwen.

"I dunno," said Megan's voice, the smoke clearing to see Hannah, with glowing purple eyes.

"Hannah, what's with your eyes?" asked Gwen.

"I'm not Hannah," said 'Hannah' in Megan's voice, 'Megan' looking rather angry with red eyes. "You idiot, you did a chi transfer!" she snapped .

"You messed it up with your counter-spell," snapped 'Hannah'.

"I didn't use a counter-spell, you're just that incompetent on your own," snapped 'Megan'.

"Enough!" snapped Chloe .

"She started it!" snapped both of the girls.

"Don't care, I'm finishing it," said Chloe before gesturing with her hand. She looked at it before saying, "Oh, right, lightning powers are off."

"Just stop it!" snapped Megan, pointing at the others and sending them all, minus Bezel, flying back in a high wind.

"Oh dear, looks like we're gonna have to do more team-building here," said Bezel before wiggling his fingers. With a poof, Hannah and Megan were handcuffed together.

"You've gotta be kidding me," said Hannah darkly before Matt reappeared.

"Hey, what's taking so long? It's been an entire 5 minutes." he demanded.

"Where's Chris?" asked Chloe.

"Uh...I dunno, kinda got sidetracked," said Matt.

...

Chris shivered as he stood in the Arctic tundra. "I hate that guy," said Chris before turning to an arctic fox and snapping, "What are you looking at?"

...

I think he let go when I took that short cut on the way to Scotland?" said Matt, before shrugging, "He'll be fine."

"Scotland? We're heading for Wales, you numbskull!" snapped Hannah.

"Hey, don't give me that lip, Megan," said Matt.

"No, I'm Megan," said Megan.

Matt looked back and forth before saying, "Brain swap? Nevermindnotimegogogo." grabbing them both and shooting out the door.

...

Not too long later, everyone was now in Wales with very windswept hair. "We could have taken a ship," said Gwen as she tried to smooth down her hair.

"Who's got time for that? Those Forever Knight creeps could already be here. We have to move fast," said Matt.

"He's right, you guys took far too long," said Bezel.

Everyone, except Hannah and Gwen jumped at that. "Ok, for someone who's sworn off magic, you use it a lot," snapped Chloe .

"Well, when I really have to," said Bezel, "But people are always rushing about, making you move faster instead of taking your time. And where's the real journey if you just poof your way to the end?"

"I ran across the Arctic to get here...oh yeah, that's where he lost his grip...one sec," said Matt, shooting off and returning with what looked like a snowman and a surprised arctic fox biting its ankle.

"Are there any chill pills that work on Kinecelerans?" asked Megan dryly.

"Not that we know of," said Gwen dryly as the snowman fell away to show a frozen Chris .

"Hang on, I know a warming spell," said Megan.

"Turn him to a cinder or a salamander is what you're more likely to do," said Hannah.

"Oh, are you saying your body's defective now?" asked Megan smugly.

"No, I know what...Megan? How much of the shop did you wreck today?" Chloe said, pointedly, winking at Megan .

"Oh, not a whole lot. We need some doors anyways," said Megan cheekily.

Matt paused at that. "What?" he said, his voice low, Chloe mouthing 'Not enough'.

"But I was thinking of remodeling some of the ship," said Megan, "I was thinking of making a couple of decks look like an old-fashioned dungeon. What do you think, Hannah?"

Hannah smirked. "I like it. Maybe get rid of some of those silly Judge Dredd comics," she said, causing Matt to growl "It's hard to do that when you're dead."

"Oh, and what can you do? Spin us to death?" asked Hannah, "Hard to do that when you can't stand up." A wave of her hand covered the patch of ground Matt was standing on with ice. Matt glared, a crackle of energy before with a flash he was in his Loboan form. "Well, that's less of a headache," said Hannah.

"Yeah, but now he's gonna make the rest of us hurt," said Megan.

"No...no, I'm ok. I thought Azmuth sent a software patch to block the XLR8 DNA," Matt said in a shaking voice .

"Not yet, or at least you haven't been able to sit around to wait for it," said Chloe.

"Ok, well, at least we got...why's Chris frozen? He looks pissed," said Matt, noticing Chris.

"We'll let him explain it to you," said Chloe.

"Ok, the last thing I remember was about the Stone. I presume that's why we're here," said Matt .

"Yeah, right outside the town of..." said Hannah before looking around and spotting a sign, "Carmarthen?"

"Nice name. Ok, has anyone got a spare holocloak? I don't wanna be mobbed by amateur werewolf hunters," said Matt .

"How about this?" asked Hannah before snapping her fingers and a dog collar appearing around Matt's neck.

Matt snarled at that. "I don't th-th-think he l-l-l-likes that," said Chris .

"Just a sec, not finished," said Hannah before zapping Matt again. In a flash of light, Matt was a greyhound. "Huh, it was supposed to make him a Welsh Terrier. Must be that Kineceleran DNA," said Hannah.

"See? Not so easy, is it" taunted Megan .

"Obviously your clumsy hands are getting in the way of my magic," said Hannah.

"Oh, is your body so perfect? Let's see about that," said Megan before making her armor turn into a string bikini, "What do you guys think? Is this body perfect?"

Matt growled at that before biting Megan, turning back to Loboan form as he did. "NOT A CHANCE IN ANY UNIVERSE YOU CARE TO NAME!" he roared, covering his mouth.

"Smooth, that'll bring the constable up here in no time," said Chloe dryly.

"LEG IT!" yelled Matt, before looking around to see Bezel had vanished. "Remind me to bite him when we next see him," he said .

The group ran into the nearby woods, though Megan and Hannah kept running around opposite sides of trees. "Ok, our guide's gone. I'm stuck as an extra from Underworld and we have no ship cause I dragged us all here in sugar rush mode," Matt said when they came to a stop.

"Yep, way to go Matt," said Chloe sarcastically.

"That's it, gonna bite you," snapped Matt, advancing on Chloe .

A mana barrier rose up in front of Matt. "Matt, stop, this isn't helping," said Gwen.

"Fine...well, given we lost Mr. Loony Wizard. Any idea where the nutter would hide his notes?"

Chris rolled his eyes. "Local library?" he said sarcastically.

"Oh please, like he would be that loose with them," said Matt.

...

Later that night, the group was able to sneak into town since no one was likely to see them now. "Ok, my locater spell indicates it's at the local library," said Gwen, "We'll have to be careful not to trip any alarms."

Chris nodded. "Told you, you owe me 50 creds, Lynch," he said grinning, before looking around, "Does anyone get the feeling somethings off? There should at least be a couple of people around."

"Maybe they all went out to see a movie," said Megan.

"I didn't see a cinema on the way in," said Matt, looking around, sniffing the air, "I can't smell anyone..."

"You can't expect the Forever Knights to be behind this," said Gwen, "What would they have to gain by emptying the town? Not like they could even do that."

"Well, if I was them, and I knew the town where what I needed was but not exactly, if I emptied the town..." Matt sad before a cockney voice said "Oi could search in peace."

The group turned to see a large man wearing heavy knight's armor. "Sir Morton, where's the rest of your legion?" asked Gwen.

"Diggin' up them notes of course. Which leaves me the job of takin' care of you," said Sir Morton as he held up a laser lance.

Matt, Chris and Chloe looked at one another before Matt said dully, "Oh, laser lances, I'm so scared. Laser lances, those were declared obsolete years ago," the trio drawing weapons

"It may be old-fashioned, but it gets the job done," said Sir Morton before firing at them. Chris and Chloe dodged to the side, Matt jumping up and planting his feet in Morton's chest, pushing back and sending them both sprawling . "Ugly dog, ain't ya?" said Sir Morton as he aimed his laser lance at Matt.

"And you're a British stereotype." snapped Matt, headbutting Morton to throw his aim off before biting into the laser lance . The lance cracked and started sparking. Morton quickly let go of it and started running away.

Matt grinned "Oh, these old laser lances, so unstable," he said, dialing in a teleport beacon and attaching it.

...

Outside the front door of a spooky castle, the laser lance appeared. The grotesque doorbell took one look at it before screaming. The door opened and an annoyed Ghoulwyrm looked out. "Who is out here at this late-" he snapped before the laser lance exploded. "I thought...he'd grown out of this?" rasped Ghoulwyrm before falling sideways.

...

Matt chuckled before turning and saying, "Ok, tin can, let's-" He was cut off when a flail head impacted with his gut and knocked all the air out of him.

"Oi don't need some poncy laser weapon to put a mutt down," said Morton nastily, readying his mace again .

Matt would have shown he was no simple mutt by sonic howling him, but he didn't have the breath to so much as squeak. Fortunately, Gwen was able to cover for him by putting a mana barrier between them. Morton glared as the blow was clocked, though a few faint cracks appeared. Matt staggered up, took a few deep breaths then, spotting Gwen, gave her a thumbs up.

"I say we hit that jerk with an ice spell," said Hannah as she pointed her hand at him

"No, a fire spell, that'll work much better," said Megan.

"I know how to use combat magic," said Hannah.

"I've been doing combat magic a lot longer than you have," snapped Megan.

"Yeah, and how well has that worked out for you?" asked Hannah.

"Hah, you think Oi'm alone?" sneered Morton before he was sonic blasted.

"I don't care...still gonna go can opener on your arse," snapped Matt before a laser blast narrowly missed him, a few dozen familiar skeletal droids running into view, the Forever Knights' crest painted haphazardly on them .

"Woulda made more Red Knights, but the Forever Knights' resources ain't what they used ta be," said Morton, "Fortunately, these ones were cheap."

"True, let's show you why. GWEN, GET THE NOTES. WE CAN HANDLE THESE CLANKERS!" Matt called, a droid lunging at him with an electric prod only for Matt to leapfrog it, turn and slash through its back.

Gwen nodded before heading for the library. "Ok, just need to get the notes and apparently it's only those twin knights who will be there. I can handle that," she said to herself. The library was quite obvious, being one of the older-looking buildings...oh and a dozen or so droids and the Red Knight. "Ok, this might be a little harder than I thought," said Gwen.

One of the droids turned to see her at that. "There's one, take it out," it said, the others replying with 'Roger Rogers' before aiming their lasers

Gwen threw up a shield that the laserfire bounced off of. That didn't stop the droids from shooting at her. The Red Knight just shook its head, clearly not thinking highly of its robotic brethren . "Well, I can see why the Knights got these guys so cheap," said Gwen.

"Roll in the droideka," ordered one droid, the group stepping back as a metallic rattling was heard from down the street.

"The what?" asked Gwen as a wheel-shaped thing rolled up before unfolding into a heavily-armed robot. "Uh oh," said Gwen.

A translucent shield appeared around the new droid before opening fire, its two twin laser cannons shooting out, bouncing off and causing cracks in Gwen's shields...and causing explosions where their shots ended. Two more also rolled out another alley, deploying, the trio slowly clacking forward on their three legs as they continued firing.

"Ok, time for a new approach," said Gwen, "Apertum Foramen!" The ground beneath the droids glowed before sinking into a hole. The destroyer droids immediately sank up to their leg joints, before ceasing fire, firing several rounds into the ground again.

"Ok, I think I better stop fooling around," said Gwen before forming her shield into a ball, "Ben does this all the time as Cannon Bolt, how hard could it be?" The droids by now were free and firing again, however this time they seemed to be aiming around her. "Guess they can't see magic very well," said Gwen as she started to roll her shield towards the library.

The droids however, unlike their battle droid friends, were not thick. They were the newest models and as smart as any human, which was why they were firing at the gas line Gwen was near. Gwen was about halfway there when the gas line exploded. Fortunately, her shield saved her from getting cooked, but she was launched very high up into the air.

The droids' insectoid faces followed her progress before stopping as she went through the roof of the library. They were about to fire when the Red Knight blocked them. The library potentially had what they needed and if it was shot to pieces, the entire mission would fail . Instead, the Red Knight drew his sword and entered the library himself.

...

Gwen shook the stars from her vision to see she'd landed in the middle of the bookcases. "Ok, I'm in, not the way I wanted in, but now I can find those notes," she said, "Where are those other knights?" A dagger shot out at that, narrowly missing her, Gwen spinning to see the Red Knight readying another knife . "I blunted your knives before, I can do it again," said Gwen. The Red Knight simply readied its swords before lunging at her .

...

"You know I'm hardly surprised that they got these guys cheap," said Matt, "The Empire didn't put a lot of effort into making their robo troops unbreakable."

Chris, currently unable to speak due to currently using his werewolf form, nodded before yelping as a heavy laser nearly blew him apart, the group turning to see several destroyer droids rolling into view. "Oh, you did do clever spending, lucky us," snapped Matt at Sir Morton .

"Worth every penny," said Sir Morton, "Oi'm gonna have a pair of fur rugs in me room by the time they're finished."

"Many people have tried...and really? Rug? That's your best insult?" said Matt cockily .

"Your face is too ugly to mount your head over me fireplace," said Sir Morton.

"That's more like it...HEY!" snapped Matt. With that, Matt tried to lunge at Morton, only for a destroyer droid to blast him in the side.

"Ow, that hurt, ok, time to start causing earaches and I don't mean by singing this time," snarled Matt. Matt turned to glare at the destroyer droids before letting loose a sonic howl that sent the droids flying . "Good now for-" started Matt before Sir Morton clicked a switch on his shield when made it start giving out a high-pitched sound.

"And here I thought a sonic shield was only good for defense," said Sir Morton as Matt and Chris cringed in pain.

Chloe stared in horror before turning to the others. "You two, between you, you're the best magic users here. DO SOMETHING!" she yelled.

"I don't know, can she handle a silence spell?" asked Hannah dryly.

"How about I use it on you to show you I can?" snapped Megan.

"DO IT OR MY BROTHER'S GOING TO DIE AND SO IS CHRIS!" yelled Chloe, her eyes turning yellow with red irises to the girls' surprise .

"Ok, ok," said the both of them before they both cast the silence spell.  
Immediately every noise ceased, Morton trying to say something before covering his mouth when nothing came out, Matt also tried a sonic howl, only for nothing to work. Chloe glared at Hannah and Megan who only shrugged. Chloe began silently yelling at them in such a way that it was probably a good thing she was currently muted. Matt meanwhile was being forced to dodge several blasts as the remaining droids, which being robots weren't restricted to talking, and were using that to pummel him.

While the others were fighting, Megan and Hannah were busy working on undoing the silence spell. Fortunately it wasn't too hard to do without saying anything. Though the first thing anyone heard when the sound came back on was Chloe yelling, "-HAIR OUT WITH AN EGG WHISK!"

Almost everyone jumped, Matt taking advantage of that to kick Morton back, two of the droids running over to the knight . "Ah, that's more like it," said Matt, "Smashing robots isn't as much fun without the sound of breaking metal." Chris nodded before both of then growled at Morton. "Up for canned food?" Matt said to the werewolf Chris .

"Don't think ye've got the best of me yet," said Morton.

"Yeah? What makes you so tough?" asked Matt. Two punches later, Matt and Chris were flying across to the other side of the square. "I think I made his point," groaned Matt, Chris just whining . "How long does it take to find some musty old notes anyways?" asked Matt.

On cue there was a purple blast, sending the red knight overhead. "Well, there's one delay reason." said Chloe casually,

"Knowing how these things go, the library is probably gonna burn down before we're done," said Megan flatly.

"Yer done alright," glared Morton as the Red Knight got up unsteadily .

"Only if your flunkies have found those notes, which I'm not putting big money," said Hannah.

Morton glared before Hannah caused his shadow to kick him. "I think I'm getting the hang of this," she said smugly as Morton was attacked by his own shadow .

"You know, I bet that armor isn't rustproof," said Megan as she caused a raincloud to appear over Morton.  
"Hah, you really think that'd work?" sneered Morton before hearing several electrical yelps from a round him, seeing the droids and the Red Knight juddering as the water got into their circuits .

"Oh, didn't spring for the weatherproofing, did you?" asked Matt, "That's why those droids are usually used on desert planets."  
Chloe nodded. "You'd better give up. Chris looks hungry," she said cockily .

"Job's already done, ain't it?" said Morton.

Gwen appeared at that, in her Anodite/Lucky Girl getup. "Yes, it is," she said, holding a book.

"So ya got the book, big deal. Our king is already at the cave where the Stone is hidden. He won't need ta make his own Stone once he gets that one," said Morton.

"Smeg..." muttered Matt .

"Alright Knights, our work's done here. Let's move on," said Morton.

"Oh like we'll be letting you go that easily," said Chloe. Morton grinned at that, tossing a device at the group's feet.

A few minutes later, the group had recovered from the flashbang. "I need to figure out some way to counter those things," said Matt as massaged his forehead to ease his headache.

"Ok, so what do the crazy wizard's notes say?" said Megan flatly .

"Well, there's his formula for making this Philosopher's Stone, a guide through the cave where he hid it, some other magic spells, it makes me wonder why no one else has tried to claim it before," said Gwen.

Matt paused before saying, "Look for the footnote that no doubt mentions monsters."

Gwen checked the book and said, "Yep, plenty of giant rock salamanders. And not the amphibious kind."

"And I bet the cockney knight didn't read that part," said Matt with an evil smirk .

"Still, we ought to head to that cave as well before those Knights manage to blast their way through," said Gwen.

"Fine, so where's the cave?" asked Matt, smoothing down his fur.

"It's at the northernmost tip of the bay," said Gwen, "Of course it's hidden from normal sight."

"Of course it is. Anyone got a radio? I think we'll need backup," said Matt.

...

The cave itself was halfway down an almost sheer cliff. "Ok, I can see how this would work. So how do the members who _can't fly_ get down there?" snapped Chris . Gwen simply created an energy platform right off the side of the cliff.

"Magic is hax," muttered Matt, stepping on after her. The inside of the cave, to Matt's relief, seemed empty, barren of either monsters or signs that droids had tried to stop said monster.

"I should point out that there are other traps in there," said Gwen.

"Oh, please, Bezel doesn't look like the sort to go Indiana Jones," laughed Matt, he and Chris high fiving before walking forward.

The girls hanged back before slowly counting, "Five...four...three...two..." Betrayl would agree, when asked later in her life, that the fireball had been the most impressive she'd ever seen.

"Think Matt will listen to my warnings now?" asked Gwen.

"Don't bet too much on it," said Chloe and Mina at the same time, the latter having joined the group after Matt had radioed for backup.

The group carefully walked forward to see Matt staggering around, though he looked a bit more wolfy than usual. Chris however was upside down against the far wall, human-looking and muttering something darkly about Matt and his habit of tempting fate .

"Well, Matt, you ready to move on yet?" asked Chloe.

Matt opened his mouth and made a 'ruff' noise before covering his snout in horror.

"Matt, did you blow out your vocal cords again?" asked Mina.

Matt made a dog-like whine at that, Hannah walking up and staring at him. "Hmm...seems the spell was essence transfer, a nasty little booby trap. It's lucky we were out of range," she said.

"You sure about that?" asked Mina.

"Well, there's two ways to verify," said Hannah before flicking a silver coin so that it neatly landed on Matt's snout.

Matt immediately howled in pain as a nasty sizzle was heard. "Nasty, it swapped curses on them," said Megan with a wince .

"Which can also be proven this way," said Hannah before pouring a can of energy soda into Chris's mouth.

Chris coughed at that. "What the hell was that ab-" he said before freezing in pose.

"You might want to stand back," said Hannah.

Chris yelped before a flash of light occurred and a dazed-looking Kineceliran standing where he had been. "Yep, definite curse switch, though 'curse' is being used loosely for him," said Hannah.

Matt growled at that, making it clear he was asking if it was permanent . "Oh, only as permanent as our body swap and our handcuffs," said Megan sarcastically.

Matt yelped at that before making several snarls and pointing down the cave . "Yes, we do have to get the Philosopher's Stone, which is why you need to stop barging in without thinking," said Chloe a little condescendingly.

Matt growled angrily at that, causing Hannah to mutter, "Chris has learnt to control a werewolf's violent urges, your brother has not. Don't push him."

"How's that any different from his normal violent urges or the Loboan's violent urges he's been dealing with lately?" asked Chloe.

"Because Matt, on his worst days, does not tear out his victim's heart and eat it," said Megan darkly .

"Ew..." groaned Gwen.

"So let's not push his buttons too badly, ok?" said Hannah, Matt seemingly having gotten a hold of himself and apparently feeling ashamed by the way his ears were flat and he was whining.

"Oh, don't worry Matt. We could probably use the Stone to fix you up," said Mina, patting Matt's head. Matt gave a yelp and backed away from Mina.

"Use the Stone? You have no idea what that thing's capable of," said Chloe, "For all we know, it could turn Matt into a dire wolf or something even further back on the evolutionary chain." Matt's muzzle was hanging open in horror, his eyes pinpricks. "Oh, boy, he's in la-la land again. Get the tazer," said Chloe darkly .

"Just pick him up and carry him until he snaps out of it," said Hannah, "We have to beat the Knights Templar to the Stone remember?"

"That's Forever Knights," corrected Gwen.

"Whatever, we're still gonna blast em," said Hannah darkly as Chris grinned evilly and he and Matt vanished in a blur .

"I probably should have told them about the other traps while I had the chance," said Gwen.

...

Up ahead though was one final problem. Bezel, in his days of messing with stones _had_ been rather creative. He also apparently had a sadistic sense of humor given that there was hundreds of identical stones, despite the fact all notes said there was one.

Forever King Chadwick had a limit to patience when he was human and it's gotten even shorter since he drank the Mr. Hyde formula. It was made worse that the second hand droids apparently didn't respect him. "Analysis to locate the genuine stone will take time," said a ball-shaped hovering droid by his head, the same thing it had said for the last half hour .

"I am running short on time and temper," growled King Chadwick, "Ben Tennyson and his alien cohorts will be here any minute."

"Uh, actually, my liege, Tennyson's not among them," said Sir Morton, "Though his witch of a cousin is."

"Confirmed, hostile subject 32 is in the vicinity. Scans indicate multiple magi explosions in the entry tunnel. Enemy targets are approaching," said the droid calmly, hovering over to where another droid grabbed one of the stones...and turned into a lead statue. "Stone 341: incorrect," it said .

Chadwick roared and snapped, "Then use the false Stones on them! The more inimical ones to be precise."

"Unknown...the possibility of stones causing an area of effect result that would result in your termination is too high," said the droid before Chadwick smashed it angrily.

"Sire, ye might want to hold back from smashin' the drones until we can afford to buy more," said Morton.

The last advisor drone said, "Process of elimination may indicate that 4 stones as possible candidates."

"Then use them. We shall show them the consequences of meddling with the quest of the Forever Knights," said Chadwick.

"And if the stone is the genuine article?" said the drone .

"Isn't there one Stone we could use as a weapon against them?" snapped Chadwick.

"Negative. Our forces are too heavily depleted to waste more drones," said the drone calmly .

"Take one of the reject Stones and throw it at them! I don't care if it gives them lead poisoning or not," snarled Chadwick.

"Roger Roger," said a droid, grabbing one of the stones and running out, followed by several other droids. It only took a minute before everyone realized the stone hadn't done anything.

"Stone 547: Possible match," said the adviser drone.

...

Matt finally managed to push Chris off him...by steering the luckless guy into a wall. At the moment the two were in a glaring contest. The girls eventually caught up with them. "Oh, so glad you're clearing the way for us," said Chloe sarcastically.

Matt turned to snarl at her, making the reason they'd been in eye contact clear. "I think...Matt needs the same mental spell I got," said Chris slowly .

"It's not something I can whip up on the spot," said Megan.

"He's gonna eat someone." snapped Chris, causing Matt to snap at him next.

"Ok, ok, I'll try to work up something," said Megan.

The problem was suddenly solved at that, a red laser burst going through Matt from behind, a dozen or so droids on a ledge above them firing . The group scrambled to get to cover, not fully registering the shock yet.

One of the drones was also holding an egg-shaped stone, which it threw at the gang, rather badly at that as it bounced off and landed next to Matt. "I think they're definitely here!" yelped Chris before zooming off, several of the droids knocked off the ledge by his blur .

Matt groaned and tried to get up, only to slip down and knock his elbow against the stone. The stone immediately blazed with red light, red lines of liquid flowing into the wounds on Matt without him noticing.

Meanwhile, Mina was blasting at the drones like they were ducks in a shooting range. "This is kinda fun," she said.

"Then actually destroy them!" snapped Hannah, dodging several laser blasts as more droids attacked.

"Ok, ok, you rush someone they get rotten aim," said Mina.

"Fine, fine," snapped Hannah, sending a shadow blast at the attackers. The last few droids were already backing off, before two of them aimed at the groaning Matt. "Hands up or he's dead," said one, showing a rare sign of battle droid sense.

"I hate it when they do that," grumbled Megan as she raised her hands.

Chloe however said smugly, "You wouldn't dare." to everyone's shock .

Since everyone's eyes were on the drones, who were not the most reactive types, they didn't notice Matt shuddering as his wound started closing up extra fast. His eyes immediately shot open, rolling around to take in everything before seeing the droids with their backs to him .

Matt grinned before quietly sneaking up on them, something that he probably wouldn't be able to do if he wasn't a werewolf at the moment. The first droid finally realized something was wrong as Matt bit it before tossing it at the other droids, giving the others an opening .

"Petra Aspiret!" called Gwen as the rock that the droids were under gave way and sent them tumbling down further.

Matt looked down the hole before giving a satisfied 'huff' and kicking some dirt down after them before sniffing the air. He smelled chemicals nearby, along with a faint of whiff of something hairy. He turned to look at them in time for Megan to hit him with a spell.

"Hey, what did you do that for?" snapped Matt before pausing and saying, "Hey, I can talk again."

"Huh, I was enjoying the silence," muttered Chloe.

"I designed it for Chris, but at least it works," said Megan cheerfully .

"Well, that will help with a couple of problems later," said Chris.

Matt sniffed the air again before saying, "I get the feeling that your buddy, Chadwick's over there." pointing down one of the many tunnels .

"Ok, but be careful, Bezel is bound to have left one last trap," said Gwen.

The others nodded, Matt getting a weird scent when Chloe and Mina went by: it was exactly the same for a start . Matt gave them a suspicious look, he better keep an eye on those two.

The group headed down the tunnel, a light at the end, Matt looking around nervously. Something was worrying to him His mind was firmly lodged upon the possibility of another trap. Who knows what the next one would do? It'd probably turn them all into toads...nah, too passé. "Gwen...what sort of trap is it?" he said carefully .

"It doesn't say what it is specifically," said Gwen, "It just says it's supposed to drive thieves mad."

Matt stopped at that. "As in...send a werewolf mad?" he said carefully .

"Well, anyone mad," said Gwen.

Chris said nervously, "Well let's look at the candidates, a heavy duty magic user which is you, a half demoness, a half shadow experiment hybrid, a werewolf and a half Loboan, most of which are also trained mercenaries."

"Well, Chloe doesn't have any special powers right now. I say she should go first," said Mina.

Chloe nodded weakly, walking forward. The others waited in anticipation before suddenly Chloe let out a yell. "Chloe!" cried Matt before tearing after before anyone could stop him. He didn't have to go very far before he found Chloe hopping on foot and clutching the other and grunting with pain. "Uh, what are you doing?" asked Matt.

"Someone dropped a rock on my foot!" snapped Chloe.

"Oh...least you're ok," Matt said .

"Yeah, sure, if you call a broken foot ok," snapped Chloe.

"It's not broken..." said Matt, sniffing it…and earning a thump on the head. "Ow," muttered Matt before looking at the rock that hurt his sister, "That is a big rock. I'll take care of it." Matt grabbed the rock only for a tingle to go through his body. "Ok, that was weird...why is everything covered in stripes?" he asked.

"Erm...Matt?" said Chloe, her head turning into Betrayl's, though this hardly meant anything as Chris had turned into a stickman.

"Do werewolves need glasses?" asked Matt, "Because I think I need extra-strength ones. Or a barfbag."

"Oh boy," said a talking walrus in Gwen's voice .

"I guess that's one way to drive someone mad," said one of the heads of a two-headed squid/snake creature with Megan's voice.

...

The group watched as Matt fell sideways, drooling. "Well, he's gonna be no help. Wonder why the stone didn't affect you, Chloe?"

"Well, she didn't touch it with her bare skin obviously," said Mina, "Lucky for her."

"I suppose. Look, let's just get the stones other half so we can snap Matt out of it," said Chris .

"Would that help?" asked Megan.

"Worth a shot," said Chris.

...

Chadwick meanwhile was getting much closer, only two stones left. "Finally, the revival of the Forever Knights order is within my grasp," said Chadwick.

"Ok, Santa's...that's enough coal from my weasel!" yelled a heroic voice behind him.

"What?" asked Chadwick before turning around and seeing the group of heroes, "So, you've managed to make it here. Congratulations are in order, I suppose. But come no further if you wish to live."

"Silence in the name of the flying spaghetti monster!" yelled an anthro wolf at the back, his eyes spinning slowly .

"Ah, I see your friend has found one of the false Stones," said Chadwick, "It seems that Merlin had an odd sense of humor."

"Merlin? I thought this was Bezel's cave," said Chris.

"Actually, Bezel's been known by dozens of names across the world," said Gwen.

"Bow before the Pastafarianism," gibbered Matt, before twitching again, one of his eyes turning bloodshot .

"Uh, just ignore him, we'll be doing the fighting," said Chris, "So, are you just looking to reimburse yourselves or is there something bigger than this?"

"If you must know, the Elixir of Life can restore anyone who drinks it. Its power shall soon rid me of this alien taint that has failed me in claiming Excalibur," said Chadwick.

"Hah, Excalibur's not real...right?" said Chris, Matt twitching more, his canines a little more pronounced.

"Actually it is, not that King Hyde over there was worthy of pulling it out," said Gwen.

"Silence alien! Machines!" snapped Chadwick, the destroyer droids from earlier clunking into view.

"Oh, I'm trembling in fear," said Mina dryly.

The destroyer droids turned to look at Mina at that before pausing, as if a little confused. "What are you waiting for? Destroy them!" snapped Chadwick. The droids themselves were starting to shake, unable to fire.

"Boy, you really scraped the bottom of the bargain bin for these guys," said Chloe.

"Error...superior officer detected," said one of the destroyer droids.

"Oh, they probably think Chloe is still Silvia," said Megan.

The droids however readied their blasters again nobody noticing that Matt's muzzle and claws had lengthened a bit, his teeth more pronounced .

Chadwick growled before snapping, "Ignore the superior officer, destroy the rest!" The droids apparently had no trouble with those set of orders and brought their blasters to bare on the others.

A howl that was more like a roar caused everyone to jump at that, a more animalistic and stronger-looking werewolf leaping over them and tackling one of the droids.

"Get the Stone," said Gwen.

"Which Stone?" asked Hannah.

"Both of them!" snapped Chris, being forced to dodge laser blasts from another destroyer droid.

Megan and Hannah ran towards the stone when Chadwick jumped out in front of them. "The Philosopher's Stone is mine!" he snarled.

Megan immediately smirked and aimed a demon-powered punch at Chadwick, only to pale when he stopped it dead. Hannah also threw a punch, only for Chadwick to stop that too. "Try to take my Stone and I shall have you both burned at the stake," said Chadwick before throwing them across the cavern.

"Hannah? I think...we should let bygones...be bygones," groaned Megan .

"I suppose we have no choice since we're still stuck with each other," said Hannah.

"Fine, let's get this creep...so how do I use your powers?" asked Megan.

...

The droids meanwhile were finding out the hard way that the others were more than a handful.

Chloe and Mina in particular were having fun. The drones barely put up any fight against them. "Is everything this easy for Shar-Khan?" asked Mina.

"Nah, these are just old toys," said Chloe.

A growl got their attention at that, the two splitting up as Matt lunged between them. "Fakes..." he snarled.

"Fakes? I don't know what you mean. There's no fake around..." said Chloe before giving Mina a suspicious look.

'Mina' gulped and said, "It's just a rental. She's fine."  
'Chloe' snapped, "Not if our feral stepbrother tears us apart, she won't be."

"Oh, are you saying I can move back in? Tired of proving that you don't need me anymore?" asked 'Mina'.

"Yes, yes!" snapped Chloe, yelping as Matt tackled her and tried to tear her throat out .

"That's all I needed to hear," said 'Mina' before making a hacking sound, "Excuse me, I need to get a little lubricant. Play with the pooch for a while." With that, she started heading over to the Stones.

Gwen looked over from her now-beaten droid at that to see Mina looking at the stones, before over in horror to where Chloe was stuck. "Mina, Chloe needs some help!" she called before sending a mana blast at Matt .

"I'll get back to her in a minute," said Mina.

"She doesn't have a minute!" yelled Gwen.

"Oh don't be silly, she can handle herself," said Mina.

Gwen glared before sending more blasts at Matt causing his head to whip around...and to give off a nasty aura. "Uh, guys, I don't think Matt's doing so well with Chris's curse," said Gwen.

Another blast knocked Matt off Chloe, though he didn't get up, instead howling as he got locked into a quadruped stance...and he bulked up to be more like a overlarge wolf, albeit one almost as big as a small horse.

"Ok, I think he needs that Elixir now," said Gwen.

"I'm on it," called Mina, "Just need to figure out which Stone's the right one."

...

Betrayl, looking through Mina's eyes could easily see which stones were fake, and what each fake did. It didn't take long to spot the real one. "Perfect," she said, grabbing it .

"Give me the Stone!" snarled Chadwick.

"Ah, go eat some bananas, monkey king," said 'Mina' dismissively.

With that, Mina's eyes blazed with white light, forcing everyone to shield their eyes, so missing it when a white energy shot out and into Chloe.

Mina staggered before looking around, "What just happened? What's with this rock? And who's that big ape?"

"Big APE?" yelled Chadwick before there was a flash of light and he was in a zoo cage with a banana shoved in his mouth.

"I says it as I sees it, tiny," said Chloe with an insane grin.

"Uh, how did you-" started Chris when Matt gave another howl.

"Oh, the zoo needs its wolf exhibit too," said Chloe before another cage appeared around Matt.

Chloe grinned at that, showing a single fang on the side of her mouth as Chris said slowly, "I don't think that's Chloe."

"Oh...the fastest member of the group _finally_ twigged," said Chloe evilly. With that, Chloe spun around like a whirlwind before transforming into Betrayl, "Thank you, you've all been a wonderful audience."

Chris's reaction was considered quite reasonable when asked later on: he levelled his gun and emptied the clip at Betrayl.

"Well, I can see nobody's in the mood for a show, so I'll just be going now," said Betrayl before disappearing in a flash only to reappear in a flash only a feet behind where she was. "No, that's not right," said Betrayl before trying to teleport, only to appear just a few feet away. "I must really be out of practice," said Betrayl before trying again. She tried one more teleport only to end up in the cage with Matt, who immediately had her pinned and was growling an inch from her.

"Uh, as much as she deserves to be torn limb from limb, I'm more concerned about Matt's mental integrity," said Hannah before taking the stone from Mina and tossing it into the cage, right into Matt's snarling mouth.

Matt got a surprised look before swallowing, his eyes crossing before shifting back to the anthro wolf form.

"There's that's better. Only how is he gonna pass that Stone through?" asked Megan.

"It won't. The Stone's one use only," said Betrayl cheerfully, Chadwick losing it at that.

"I knew you guys were overreacting about how dangerous that Stone is," said Gwen.

"That's nice. All's well that ends well. I'll be leaving now," said Betrayl, trying to get Matt to let go, only to yelp as Matt easily lifted her up.

"Oh, look, I found a note about reversing that curse swap spell," said Megan.

"Megan, I don't think now's the best time," said Gwen but Megan was already working on the spell.

Matt's eyes crossed, before he was suddenly where Chris had been standing and vice versa. "Oh, how cute, now I'm stuck with my boyfriend," said Betrayl before giving Chris a big kiss on the lips. As Chris was spitting, Betrayl said, "I'd like to stay around, but I've got chaos to spread, havoc to wreak, wedgies to give, so I'll just be moving-" Just then, the cage was covered in purple flames and it disappeared, taking Betrayl and Chris with it.

Matt blinked for a second before saying, "Ok...what the HELL was that?"

...

When the cage reappeared, Chris and Betrayl were both shaken up a bit. "Uh, I wasn't finished yet," said Betrayl.

"Ok, where did you send...us?" asked Chris when he looked through the bars of the cage and saw a landscape that looked what a postmodern artist would paint after having a jalapeno and pork rind-induced dream.

"You are inside my domain," said a deep voice. The two of them turned to see what looked like a large sea turtle with a head wreathed in purple flames sitting on a large throne.

"Oh, look. It's Gamera," said Betrayl cheerfully .

"I am Adwaita, Lord of All Magic," said the turtle.

"Big title, got the power to back it up?" asked Betrayl cheekily. Chris jumped as a blast of mana engulfed Betrayl, leaving her blackened. "It's backed up," she rasped .

"Now then, give me Bezel's Stone," said Adwaita.

"Oh dear, bad luck," said Betrayl, suddenly in a nurse's blue jumpsuit before saying, "First off, wrong person, you want my stepbro. Second, you'll have to wait at least 12 hours."

"Then he shall be coming to me, if he wants you back," said Adwaita.

"Whoops, wrong sister too, bad luck, Gamera," said Betrayl in a happy tone .

"In that case, I won't need you," said Adwaita, his fist glowing purple.

"Might come for him, though. He's a werewolf. Plus you can't kill chaos, but you could use it," said Betrayl quickly .

Adwaita gave them a thoughtful look and said, "We'll let your rescuers decide then. But if they do not deliver the Stone..."

"Wait...you're going to try and cage chaos?" said Betrayl, offended.

A purple energy blast sent Betrayl flying out of the cage. The bars of the cage repaired themselves before Chris could get out though. "Like I said, I don't need you. Be gone, pest," said Adwaita, sending a second blast that knocked Betrayl out the room .

"Uh, rhetorical question, what if they _can't_ bring the Stone?" asked Chris.

"Then I get a new dire wolf," said Adwaita .

Chris gulped and said, "I'm done for."

* * *

There's another chapter and the first half of a two-parter. And this is a rather important two-parter since Betrayl has let the cat out of the bag. But she probably isn't the biggest threat here since Adwaita's also wanting the Philosopher's Stone. What does he want with the Stone? Will the crew be able to save Chris? What has Betrayl done with the real Chloe? Tune in next week for all those answers and a little more. Please review.


	10. Facere Anima

**Reticence Saga**

**The Aliens Within**

**Chapter 10: Facere Anima**

It was well-known by now that when Matt got angry, he reverted to Loboan form until he was able to calm down. It should be of no surprise that upon finding out that Betrayl had been impersonating his own sister for who knows how long that Matt was so livid that he couldn't even speak or walk upright. The Tennysons and Rook had called for Scout to get a transport to Earth, but till then they were helping keep Matt from wrecking everything.

"It's bad...really bad. I've never, _ever_ seen him this angry," said Techo .

"You completely sure about that?" asked Ben, "Not even one time?"

"Trust me. I met him after his first assignment in sector 11. He's been through all kinda crap. This is the worst I've seen him," said Techo gloomily before the viewport was filled with the angry glare of Loboan Matt.

"Even worse than when he thought when he was lead to believe that Chloe was deceased but had actually been kidnapped by the Hamsterviel Empire and brainwashed?" asked Rook.

There was a pause before Techo said, "Ok, that was pretty bad, but Matt couldn't turn into a rabid wolf back then, or a dragon yet."

"And he managed to find the time to cool off. He went off the grid. Nobody knows what he got up to. The Avalar incident's the only one that got revealed but everyone suspects alot of his other reports were falsified too," said Aria.

"Oh like that's not eventually come back to haunt us," said Ben sarcastically.

Aria nodded before saying, "However this begs the unfortunate possibility that Miss Betrayl disposed of Chloe."

"I'm not too certain about that," said Gwen, "She doesn't seem to be the type to actually kill someone. Humiliate them, perhaps, but not kill."

"We have no idea. DARKRIFT records say she successfully wiped out an entire team before she was captured," said Aria. .

"Well we're gonna find that monster and force the answer out of her," said a dark voice. The voice turned to see NegaMorph in a very stormy mood, almost literally considering how much shadow was writhing around him.

Usually this would have resulted in some of the security team escorting NegaMorph away to cool off. However, Gwen had spotted, on the way in, a bulletin on a holoboard, taking suggestions for ways to...deal with Betrayl, apparently started by Techo...it had alot of entries

"So, NegaMorph, I'm guessing you won't wanting to come alone and help take down Betrayl," said Ben a little sarcastically.

NegaMorph grabbed Ben by the neck and snapped, "I am in no mood for jokes, Tennyson!"

This did cause the security team to draw their blasters. "Easy, captain...put Tennyson down," said one of them.

"Wait? NegaMorph is captain?" asked Ben.

"But he has an extensive, if mostly pardoned, criminal record," said Rook.

"Last thing Matt did before he went feral. He said he's not in the mood to take a prisoner and doesn't want anyone with much mercy in charge of the hunt," said Techo grimly .

"That is quite worrisome," said Skurd.

"What we need is good news. Something to snap him out of psycholand," said Techo.

Just then, a wall of purple flames rose up right beside them. "Pretty sure that's not good news," said Ben.

A black face appeared among the flames and demanded, "Who is the captain of this ship?"

Techo looked around. With Chris and Chloe MIA and Matt currently a little insane... "Erm, me I suppose," he said .

NegaMorph knocked him over and snapped, "Check the memo, I'm acting captain right now! And who's the talking fireplace?"

"I am Adwaita, rule of Ledgerdomain," said the face, "And you _will_ bring me Bezel's Stone."

"And why should I?" snapped NegaMorph, "This is a military/mercenary ship, not a delivery van."

"Because I have one of your own, the werewolf to be exact," said Adwaita calmly .

"Just saying something isn't proof it's true," snapped NegaMorph. The flames briefly part to reveal an image of Chris in a cage in a very warped landscape.

"If you do not bring me Bezel's Stone, his fate shall be most dire," said Adwaita.

"Do you have that chaos creature that came with him?" demanded NegaMorph.

"She is within my realm," said Adwaita.

"Include her in the package or there's no deal," snapped NegaMorph.

"Oh? I'm surprised you want it," said Adwaita, a yell of "I'm not an it' heard .

"We don't want her, we want some very important information out of her," said NegaMorph before smirking cruelly and saying, "You can soften her up for us until we get there. If she tells what we're wanting, I'll throw in, uh...a fireproof crown."

Adwaita glared at that before saying, "You have till midnight to bring me the stone."

"Midnight our time or midnight your time, because there's probably a big difference," said NegaMorph.

With a flash, an hourglass filled with purple sand appeared. "If the Stone is not in my hand by the time the last grain falls, you will never see your friend as he is again," said Adwaita before the flames went out, leaving only the hourglass.

"Well...that sucks," said Techo finally .

"Well, yeah, handing over the Stone won't be easy and it would be a bad idea, but we're getting something out of it," said NegaMorph.

"And how will you be making the trade when you don't even know how to get to Ledgerdomain?" asked Techo pointedly.

"Well, uh, um, those guys have obviously been there before," said NegaMorph, pointing at Ben and Gwen.

"We can't just give the stone to Adwaita. You haven't met him. If you give him the stone, we're all in trouble," said Gwen

"What would he want with a Philosopher's Stone anyways?" asked NegaMorph, "Pretty sure he has all the riches and good health he could want."

"He thinks all mana belongs to him, the mana that keeps living beings alive. He thinks we're all thieves. He could use it to drain every living being in the universe," said Gwen pointedly.

Techo said, "Hah...what was that you said first about these stones being safe?"

"He couldn't do that with one little stone...can he?" asked NegaMorph.

"NegaMorph, there is a reason the stone is on a 'destroy on sight' list," said Techo in an annoyed tone .

"Well, I'm pretty sure this isn't the first time you've had to hand over a dangerous weapon and I'm pretty sure you've had to sabotage the weapons those times as well," said NegaMorph.

"Look. The last time we tried to sabotage something magic was the Fang Stone incident. That was fun, wasn't it?" snapped Techo.

A sharp whistling made them turn towards the Tennysons. "Guys, let's try not to lose focus on the details," said Ben.

"Such as getting to Ledgerdomain in the first place," said Gwen.

"You expect me to believe you've never been there?" asked NegaMorph dryly.

"No, but it's not easy to get there, especially since Adwaita is in control," said Gwen.

"Great...plus our only remaining heavy hitter except for NegaMorph's in containment," snapped Techo .

"Right, we're gonna need some strong magic," said Gwen.

"Uh, Megan and Hannah are still trying to untangle themselves and Mina's recovering from being an unwitting host to a chaos spirit. We're kinda low on magical resources right now," said Techo.

"That means there's only one person," said Gwen grimly.

...

"A purse. Our last best hope is a purse," said NegaMorph flatly as they looked at the creepy little purse Gwen was holding.

"It's not the purse itself, it's who's in the purse," said Gwen before turning to the purse and saying, "Charmcaster, here's a chance to earn some good deeds."

"I'm not listening to you, Gwen!" said a tiny little voice that was almost impossible for anyone who wasn't right next to it to hear.

"The hell is that?" said Techo in a confused voice .

"Oh, that's Charmcaster, my former archrival that I'm trying to reform," said Gwen before reaching inside the bag and pulling out what looked like a totem of a girl.

"I am the true ruler of Ledgerdomain," said the tiny voice from the totem, "You'll all be begging for mercy when I get my power back!"

"Oh...I'm not filled with confidence to be honest," said Techo .

"She can be a great help, we just need to lay down some ground rules," said Gwen as she drew a magic circle on the floor.

NegaMorph glared, "Like what? Send her to her room if she tries to conquer the world?"

"Something like that," said Gwen, "If Charmcaster tries to double cross or run away, she'll be sent straight back to her bag."

"Fine, we just gotta get her to lis-" began Techo, only for NegaMorph to grab the totem.

"Ok, listen up. In our containment cell, we got a very pissed off Loboan. You play ball or you are his new chew toy. Comprende?"

"You can't scare me into working for you," said Charmcaster.

"Well, I suppose we could do worse. Like flush her down the toilet," said NegaMorph meaningfully.

Techo nodded, "Plus, she's never met NegaMorph. He never makes a threat he doesn't intend to carry out."

"Of course, I don't have to flush her right now. How about she takes the scenic route?" said NegaMorph before opening his mouth wide and starting to lower Charmcaster into it.

"OK, ok!" said the squeaky voice, before saying, "You don't really have a Loboan captain..." before NegaMorph rolled his eyes and held the totem up to the containment viewport.

"OI, MATT! WE MIGHT HAVE A TICKET TO GET CHRIS AND BETRAYL BACK!" he called.

"Where? Where?" demanded Matt as he scratched at the viewport.

"This little lady in totem form, but she might be unwilling," said NegaMorph evilly before yelping as Matt broke his fist through the port and grabbed him. "Wait, not me!" yelped NegaMorph before he was pulled through the port.

Matt apparently wasn't listening before grabbing the totem. "Now listen here, if you don't do it, I will turn you into gravel," he growled to it .

"Alright, alright, you've made your point!" squeaked Charmcaster.

Matt glared, standing up unsteadily before sonic howling the rest of the viewport away and climbing through. "You coulda escaped at any time?" said Techo carefully.

"Only if I wanted to," said Matt, "I needed time to cool down."

"Ok...at least that means NegaMorph isn't in charge anymore," said Techo with relief as Matt glared at the totem before tossing it to Gwen .

"Ok, now that we've got the ground rules settled, let's get to work," said Gwen before placing Charmcaster's totem into the magic circle. She chanted some arcane words before there was a bright purple flash.

Where the totem was now stood a young woman with white hair and a purple coat. "Finally. You have any idea how annoying it is to be three inches tall?" asked Charmcaster.

"I have a pretty good idea, since you turned me into a totem before," said Gwen sternly.

"Well, now we're even," said Charmcaster dismissively.

Charmcaster looked around before seeing that every marine in the room had a gun on her. "Gwen might be willing to risk you not backstabbing us, I'm not. Try anything and I'll bite you...which comes with a big list of problems," said Matt pointedly, waving a claw to get them to lower their guns .

"Yeah, and how about I just turn you into a poodle before finding my way off this-" started Charmcaster before she was suddenly sucked back into the purse. "Hey! That's not fair!" snapped Charmcaster's tiny voice from in the bag.

"I warned you," said Gwen before letting her back out.

"Ok, let's get this going," said Matt, clapping his paws together before saying, "I'm off to get the biggest gun I can carry to bring along."

"Uh, you realize we're going to the land of magic, right?" pointed out Charmcaster.

"So? You saying I should load up on cold iron?" asked Matt.

...

One of the hangers had been chosen for the location of the portal and, given Matt's track record with magic, they were setting up an insane amount of weaponry to aim at it .

"Any particular rules about Ledgerdomain? Are we allowed to eat anything there?" asked NegaMorph.

"Well, one rule is don't fly, the sky is not parallel with the ground. Landing is not as easy as it looks there," said Charmcaster.

"Oh wonderful, hallucination land," said Matt dryly .

"And since Adwaita has taken my throne, everything in Ledgerdomain is going to be hostile towards us," said Charmcaster.

"Which is why we broke out the anti-magic guns. DARKRIFT were kind enough to share some deathstone rifles," said Matt, Techo saying "He means we stole them the last time their ships were in starport."

"Isn't about the time that Betrayl first..." said NegaMorph before wilting under Matt's glare, "Let's skip ahead. Have you booby-trapped the Philosopher's Stone?"

"Covered it with a coat of DXR-19, add a match and it goes up like a chunk of C4," said a marine, tossing the stone over which now had a greasy sheen .

"Ok, would have thought you'd drill a tiny hole and hid a bomb in it," said NegaMorph.

"No, but not a bad idea. We'll do it when we're forced to hand over another McGuffin, I mean, magical artifact," said Matt.

Techo nodded, checking his blaster. "Ok, we go in, give over our bomb, blow up Gamera and head back with Chris and our new prisoner. What form are you bringing, Ben? We need to know for our backup escape," he said, tossing over a bracelet to everyone.

"This one right here," said Ben before turning into Terraspin.

"Wait, is that the same species as the turtle guy?" asked Matt.

"He used to be, until he got warped by all that magic. But Terraspin is immune to mana attacks when I want him to be," said Terraspin.

"Ok..." said Techo, tapping in something. "There we go. Don't turn back if you plan to use that. You might end up a mile before the moon's surface," he said casually, clicking his own on .

"Right," said Terraspin as he struggled to put it on his own flipper.

"Uh, it adjusts to fit, you just have to be Terraspin when you use it," said Techo.

Matt came back in, holding a rather large railgun rifle with a Darkrift symbol on it. "Ok, let's go roast some evil turtle," he said .

"Can you even aim that thing properly?" asked NegaMorph.

Matt spun and fired a shot that blew NegaMorph's head up. "Never mind," he said through a secondary mouth .

"Ok, just give me a moment to concentrate," said Charmcaster. She closed her eyes before she started chanting arcane words. As she reached a crescendo, she called, "Door to Yahwahtacsip, appear to me!" There was a rumbling before an enormous stone door appeared in the hangar.

"Ok, ladies first," said Matt politely .

Gwen and Charmcaster stepped through the portal, though there was an ominous creaking as Charmcaster went through. Matt and Techo exchanged a nod before following before Matt's hand came out and pulled NegaMorph through . Ben and Rook were the last to go through as the door swung itself shut.

...

Matt shook his head to get rid of the dizzy feeling before looking around...and wishing he hadn't.

"Wow, this place looks like it's been ripped a dozen hippie's vans," said Techo.

"I feel sick," groaned Matt, his Loboan senses making it far worse .

"Focus on the path in front of you," said Gwen.

"Sure," said Matt, trying to do so.

"So, how are we supposed to find Adwaita in this nonlinear environment?" asked Rook.

"It's easy. He'll be where I was," said Charmcaster smugly .

"And that would be where?" asked Ben.

Charmcaster pointed upwards and everyone looked to see the large castle floating among the disconnected landscape. "Yep, that'd be the place," said NegaMorph.

"What is it with evil magic users and ego fortresses?" muttered Mat t.

"Well, it's not like there's an abandoned city for him to lord over, is there?" asked Ben.

"Not anymore," said Charmcaster, suddenly downcast.

"You mean there was an abandoned city?" said Matt, looking around.

"There was a city where my people lived, many years ago. We ruled over by an elected council of elders, no one held too much power over everyone. That's before that accursed tortoise appeared. Now I and my Uncle Hex are the last humans who ever came from Ledgerdomain," said Charmcaster bitterly.

"Wow...that kinda sucks," said Matt, unable to think of anything more suitable to say, before pausing, the others noticing him get a funny look and aim his rifle at Charmcaster. "Hold still," said Matt.

"Matt, she hasn't done anything to-" started Gwen before Matt fired and blew up the stone bat that was flying over Charmcaster.

"You'd think we'd be used to that kind of thing by now," said NegaMorph.

"I think we can safely say we're expected," said Matt, reloading .

"Should they not be escorting us if Adwaita wants the Stone?" asked Rook.

"He probably thinks it'll be cheaper if he just kills us and loots the Stone," said Ben as he dialed up his Omnitrix.

"Remember, dear boy, no flyers," said Skurd.

"Fine, if you can keep your tentacles out of the way," said Ben. In a flash, Ben was Ghostfreak.

"I said no flyers," said Skurd.

"It was your fault that time," said Ghostfreak, "Besides, Ghostfreak's more of a floater."

"Let's just go," groaned Matt, walking ahead of them .

"Careful, Adwaita probably set traps," warned Charmcaster.

"Such as?" asked Matt before the ground opened up under his next footstep.

Matt screamed, dropping his rifle down the hole, though he managed to grab the edge. "Ok, I take your point!" he yelped .

"I got you," said Ghostfreak before extending his tentacles around Matt.

"Ben, your Ectonurite form is creepier than I last remember," said Matt.

"Ghostfreak was always creepy. Least this time it's not an evil bodysnatching crazy person," said Techo cheerfully .

"Yeah, got rid of him for good, at least in the Omnitrix," said Ghostfreak.

"That's nice. Now let's just get to the castle," snapped Matt.

...

Adwaita frowned as he saw that the idiot had managed to avoid his trap. To make things worse, they'd brought Charmcaster and the Tennysons. "Is the turtle all angry?" taunted Betrayl. The best that Adwaita had managed was to limit her to his throne room. Her magic was quite indigestible and normal magic cages were useless to hold her...meaning he had to put up with her floating around .

"Oh, I've seen him angrier," said Bezel casually within his magical cage. He had been snatched by Adwaita while everyone was busy with the Forever Knights.

"Oh? Did his prom date stand him up?" said Betrayl sadly, clicking her talons before Adwaita found himself in a tuxedo. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find that special someone," said Betrayl cheerfully .

Adwaita gave Betrayl an annoyed look before the tuxedo incinerated, "Do not irk me, chaos beast. I may not be able to cage you, but I can make you feel pain."

"You keep trying but it's not working," said Betrayl cheerfully .

"Perhaps I should be more precise and drain the magic straight out of you," growled Adwaita.

"Oh, that won't work. You don't have nearly enough power to do that without the Alpha Rune," said Bezel.

"Yes, which is why you're going to tell me where you hid it," said Adwaita.

"No, I don't think so. You didn't do a very good job using it the last time," said Bezel.

"Yup...though you do speak French really well," taunted Betrayl .

"What is that supposed to mean?" demanded Adwaita.

"You spoke French for at least half an hour after the first try. One does not drain chaos," said Betrayl evilly . With a flash of light, Betrayl was suddenly frozen in ice.

"That didn't work last time either," said Bezel helpfully .

"Yes, but it gives me a brief reprieve from her nonsensical chatter," said Adwaita. Bezel sighed before a snowball hit the back of Adwaita's head.

"Face it, Sheldon, there's nothing you've got that can hurt me," said Betrayl.

"Oh no?" asked Adwaita before making a gesture. In a flash, a cage appeared containing a very bizarre creature that had the shell of an armadillo, the hooves of a goat, the howl of a hound, and a single eye above a large mouth fill with sharp teeth and a slathering tube-shaped tongue.  
"Oh...those...wait, won't they eat you too?" said Betrayl.

"I have trained this Thirdak very well," said Adwaita, "In fact, this beast was very useful in exterminating the humans who thought they had a claim to this world. And I think your magic would be a very tasty treat to it."

"Oh, trained it to voice commands, did you?" said Betrayl innocently.

"Indeed, wait, what are you thinking?" asked Adwaita.

Betrayl grinned evilly before saying in Adwaita's voice, "Attack me immediately and ignore all my other orders."

However, the Thirdak did not respond at all. "Did you think I would not expect a voice changeling to try and command my beast?" asked Adwaita, "The collar it wears keeps it from attacking me and rejects certain orders I would never give. It cannot be removed by magical means and no magical being can get close enough to remove it. Let me show you just what it's capable of. Thirdak, sap her spirit." The creature howled before bounding after Betrayl.

Betrayl yelped at that before asking, "So I'm guessing that collar's just regular metal with a few mind control runes, right?"

"It is a sophisticated artifact that you could not possibly comprehend," said Adwaita.  
"Oh please, I can be very sophisticated," said Betrayl, suddenly next to Adwaita.

"My Thirdak is relentless when-" started Adwaita when said beast knocked him over as it charged after Betrayl. Adwaita sighed and said, "That Stone cannot come soon enough."

...

The group, as it got closer, quickly began to notice signs that indicated that at least one of the prisoners wasn't as secure as liked, such as the guard minions with party hats on.

"How do you intend to extract the information regarding the real Chloe's location out of Betrayl?" asked Rook, "She appears to be rather...obstinate."

"Good old-fashioned pain. She can definitely feel it," said Matt nastily .

"It's pinning her down that's the hard part," said NegaMorph.

"Yeah. She's the very definition of a free spirit," said Matt .

"But she must have some weakness," said Rook.

"Right now, let's worry about the evil turtle overlord and what he'll do the instant that Stone blows up," said Ben.

...

Adwaita glared as the image recorded Matt's comment. The foolish human had presumed there was only one spy. He'd send the Thirdak away for the moment, given Betrayl had gotten it to trample him every minute or so. "You mad, Gamera?" said the aforementioned spirit, Chris saying from his cell "You honestly expected them to just...hand the pebble over?"

"I would have expect the heroes to be too honorable to go back on their word," said Adwaita.

"Ben, Gwen, and Rook are heroes, the rest are mercs. We're more like anti-heroes, NegaMorph's frankly the token evil teammate," said Chris.

"But still, I have the Father of All Magic in my captivity and I shall extract his knowledge of both the Stone's formula and the Alpha Rune from his mind after I crush these would-be usurpers," said Adwaita.

"Oh, good luck with that. My stepbrother killed a revenite by himself...and that was before he got all scaly. Turtle soup in the canteen tonight," Betrayl said cheerfully .

"Well, since they are not going to keep their end of the bargain, there's no reason for me to keep mine. Not that I was planning to anyways," said Adwaita before pointing a glowing claw at Chris, "You shall be fed well, my new hound, upon the flesh of your former friends."

"Erm...what?" said Chris .

"In case you're wondering, it will be excruciatingly painful," said Adwaita as he readied to cast his curse.  
Immediately, a brick wall materialized in the curse's path and a heavily-armored Betrayl appeared. "STOP! YOU VIOLATED THE LAW! No innards eating here, it's a kids show," she said .

"Why would you care? It's not as if you cared for him," said Adwaita.

"Of course not," said Betrayl, not very convincingly.

Adwaita grinned and said, "Ah, so the chaos spirit does have a weakness."

"I do not. I don't care about what you turn him into, I just don't want to drive up the rating," said Betrayl.

"What rating? Dammit, it's like Morph with a functioning brain!" yelled Chris .

"I suggest you stand aside before worse harm comes to him," said Adwaita.

"I don't have to do what you say. In fact, I think you should do what I say," said Betrayl before reaching out and tapping Adwaita's forehead with one finger. The purple flames around his head immediately went out as his whole body turned grey.  
"Oh, nice and easy. Ok, Gamera. Let Chris go," she said commandingly before Adwaita's flames shot back and she was sent flying by a blast .

"You have gone too far, chaos beast!" snapped Adwaita, "No one commands Adwaita! This is my realm and all within it are at my mercy!" While Adwaita was truly outraged, he was at least partially intimidated by how close Betrayl was to seizing control. It also made him realize this thing was a child, which made him realize just how powerful the adults might be...and how the adults would certainly not even need to break a sweat if they so wished. But then, children are open to suggestion. It shouldn't be too hard to tempt this creature closer to his side of thinking.

"So...it seems you are at least..." Adwaita said at that, pausing before forcing out "...an equal."

"Equal? Why I've never been so insulted. Can't you see I'm odd?" said Betrayl before her eyes, nose, and mouth popped off, orbited her head before sticking back on in random places.

Adwaita paused at that, for once rendered speechless . "Ok, I think Morph has been officially outclassed as weirdo of the multiverse," said Chris.

...

Back on the Novus Star, Morph was rolling across a corridor ceiling before pausing and saying, "Something awful just happened."

...

Adwaita, for once couldn't help but agree with Chris; the Betrayl creature was definitely weird. "Well, this won't stop intruders," he said calmly, turning back to Chris.

"Hey, if you want a guard dog, go to the pound," said Chris, "I'm not signing up for anything."

"Oh shut up," snapped Adwaita, blowing a glowing dust in Chris's face .

"Hey, that's my dog, leave him alone," said Betrayl.

Adwaita looked over at her at that. "I'm just making him a better, more obedient dog," he said calmly as Chris began to spasm, his eyes bugging in a fashion similar to meatloaf night , "Anyways, you have bigger things to worry about, such as the arrival of your would-be jailers."

"They're better then you and they get cable," said Betrayl .

"But you know how repressive humans are. They'll insist you have to go by their rules, if they even want to keep you at all," said Adwaita.

"Nah...the humans I know are almost as mad as me. Who else sleeps with a plasma rifle under their bed to shoot the roaches and moldy sandwich blobs?" said Betrayl .

"Perhaps you'd like to hear what your so-called friends think of you," said Adwaita before conjuring up an image of the team.

Betrayl peered in closely...

...

"So...how did you meet her?" asked Ben.

"Well, by now, knowing my track record...met her after a crash-landed. This was back when I thought Chloe was toast. I didn't take it well. A local magic artifact caused her to come into existence. Thought she was Chloe for a while...she wasn't," said Matt.

"Bet that got awkward when the real Chloe showed up," said Ben.

"I didn't find her until much, much later," said Matt, "Betrayl only stuck around for a few days, got me and a few friends in a lot of trouble, far more trouble than she's worth."

...

Adwaita jumped back as Betrayl snapped "WHAT?!" the air darkening as she absently absorbed most of the mana around her like an angry sponge "I give him more support than that rotten sister of his ever did and this is how he repays me?!" snapped Betrayl.

"Of course, of course," said Adwaita before raising a mana shield just in time as Betrayl send a solid blast of magic at the image, blasting it...and the supposedly indestructible wall behind it to pieces.

"So I'm trouble, am I? He wants trouble? I'll give it to him!" she roared, looking almost demonic as her rage affected her form slightly . A thunderstorm quickly formed over her, spitting purple lightning in all directions.

"Easy, my chaotic companion. You should save this for them," said Adwaita .

"Save it for them? I'll bring it to them!" snapped Betrayl before flying up into the thundercloud and storming out of the castle quite literally.

...

"Oh, who am I kidding? She stopped me going nuts. She wasn't a bad person...just a little crazy," said Matt gloomily .

"Not of a team player though, considering whatever she did to Chloe," said NegaMorph grouchily.

"Well...I didn't really do a good look for her after she went down that waterfall. I shoulda guessed she was immune to silly things like hitting the ground. No wonder she lost it...3 years alone..." said Matt, kicking a stone ahead of him and looking confused when it said "Well, screw you too, buddy." before floating away, muttering .

"This is why I don't like going to magical places. I think pretty much everything here is enchanted," said Matt.

"Actually, I think that bush over there is normal," said Charmcaster.

"Nope, I'm enchanted too," said the bush.

Techo said expectedly "3...2...1..." before Matt screamed and ran off in a different direction, "His mental states like a clock: you can set your watch by it and it regularly goes cuckoo." A few seconds later, Matt ran back towards them from another direction. He paused, looked behind him, then ran off screaming in another direction. He was soon back coming from another direction.

"Well, least that's useful," said Gwen after a few more times of this as Techo looked up.

"Hey...guys? What's the weather like here? Are the clouds usually something like what you'd see in an apocalypse film?" he asked . The team looked up to see the most malevolent-looking thundercloud they ever seen coming their way.

Matt paused at that before saying, "That's not usual weather...is it?" before a demonic voice yelled "UNGRATEFUL HUMAN!"

"That could be any human. Charmcaster's probably not so grateful," Matt told himself.

A second later a purple blast shot out at the group, scattering them and kicking up some smoke. When the smoke clear, there was only a scorchmark where Matt was. "Uh, Matt, you still there?" asked NegaMorph, peering close at the scorchmark.

...

Matt landed with a thud on a dark sandy earth, getting up unsteadily. "Ow...my brain..." he said dizzily . He glanced around before saying, "Well, at least I'm out of the Wonderland." There was a growl as something started moving under the sand towards him. "And into the fire!" yelped Matt as he started running for higher ground.

He looked around, spotting a rock before legging it, firing a few shots behind him before clambering up the rock. Matt gave a sigh of relief and said, "Can't me on this rock, can you, you big dumb slug?"

The sand in front of the rock exploded up before a huge dragon fountained up. "So, I'm trouble, am I?" it said in a demonic voice, a good dozen demonic eyes on its face and an insane grin.

"Uh, there was more to that but you probably didn't hear the rest of it," said Matt.

"LIES!" roared the creature, before sending a black fireball at Matt . Matt narrowly avoided it by dropping behind the rock. "You didn't even look for me!" roared the creature, smashing the top of the rock down like it was paper mache .

"Well, you fell down a big waterfall," started Matt before an enormous amount of water was dumped on top of him. "Oh...real mature," Matt muttered before yelping as the next blast was acid and narrowly missed .

"You didn't even bother to look for me," snapped Betrayl as rock spikes narrowly missed skewering Matt, "You wanted me gone the instant you knew I wasn't your stupid sister."

"Of course I did. You nearly killed Twilight and handed over that planet's version of a superweapon," snapped Matt angrily .

"What would that dumb horse have been worth compared to me?" snapped Betrayl, "I could have given you everything you wanted, including the sister you lost, but you had to stick with the genuine article."

"Of course I stuck with the regular article. The one thing you taught me was that if I didn't let go that day, I'd get myself killed and probably take alot of people with me beforehand!" snapped Matt .

"So it was ok for you to let me go?" snapped Betrayl.

"You let go," retorted Matt.

"SILENCE!" bellowed Betrayl before shooting lightning at Matt.

Matt ducked back down behind the rock before calling out. "So, this is it? I thought you were dead so you're gonna make me dead?" while checking his wristcomp for anything that might do a dent to her.

"Who said what I'm gonna put you through is gonna be fatal?" called Betrayl, "Tremendously painful, yes, but you ought to be alive at the end."

"Then what? You working for the Gamera rip-off?" snapped Matt's voice, Betrayl pausing before laughing "He does look a bit like Gamera. I keep fighting the urge to sing that mystery science theater song,"

"Have you roasted marshmallows over his head yet?" asked Matt, hoping to improve Betrayl's temper.

"I haven't ye...wait, this isn't about me or turtle brain!" snapped Betrayl .

"You sure it's not about you?" asked Matt.

A blast of energy nearly took his head off at that. "Oh, it definitely isn't. What was the plan when you caught me? A little dissection?" she snapped, sending a hail of scalpels at the rock .

"We have more sophisticated means of information extraction," said Matt before muttering, "Probably a dumb thing to say right now."

"Oh really? A little mind..." began Betrayl before Matt came into view, a tube on his shoulder.

"Tag, you're it!" he called before firing his neutron cannon at Betrayl. The cannon did succeed in scattering Betrayl over most of the place, but that success was very short-lived as she quickly started piecing back together again. "Ok, I'm gonna need some help," said Matt as he frantically tried to contact someone on his wristcomp.

He looked in confusion as it began to play elevator music. "Sorry, no cell coverage here," snarled Betrayl .

Matt gulped and said to himself, "Ok, I've gotten out of tougher scrapes than this. I've survived uglier assaults and have only lost an arm. I can make it through this."

"Oh, you lost an arm? You're uneven then. We'd better fix that," growled Betrayl gleefully .

"Uh, I'm just fine with this one. You don't need to try to regrow my old arm," said Matt worriedly.

"Who said anything about that?" sneered Betrayl, making a giant pair of scissors appear .

Matt gulped before picking up a large rock and throwing it at Betrayl, "Rock crushes scissors!"

Betrayl was knocked backward by the rock but soon stood up and said, "Scissors cuts paper," before snapping her fingers. Matt's body suddenly went as it became as flat as paper. "Don't worry, this will only hurt when I make you 3D again," said Betrayl as she got ready to snip off Matt's right arm.

Just then, a nearby shadow was stretched out by four arms before NegaMorph jumped through and blocked Betrayl's scissors with his Lockblade. "If anyone's gonna rip another limb off of Matt, it's gonna be me!" he snapped.

Matt yelped as he popped back to 3D as Betrayl span to look at NegaMorph. "Who invited you?" she roared .

"Let's just say I know someone who's very good at wedging doors open," said NegaMorph before making a long slice down Betrayl's side.

Betrayl seemed to scream, NegaMorph looking smug before his smile faded as the screaming turned into hysterical laughter. "Uh, she's not one of those masochist things, right?" asked NegaMorph.

"Possibly, but I don't think that's why she's laughing," said Matt.

"A Keyblade? Really?" said Betrayl finally, showing that the slash hadn't done anything at all.

"Er, it's actually a Lockblade, not sure how big of a difference that makes," said NegaMorph.

"I suggest you try hitting her someplace where it'll hurt, like her heart," said Matt meaningfully.

"I thought you pitied her," said NegaMorph. "She just tried to make paper-mache out of me, I'm not taking any more chances," said Matt.

"Nope, it's my turn," said Betrayl, floating up to NegaMorph, who suddenly couldn't move. "Oh, I have to admit, you're nothing as ruthless as the old news reports say. I wanna see what the original was like," she said, sticking a claw literally into NegaMorph's head.

NegaMorph went grey for a moment before becoming a darker black than usual. He turned and snarled at Matt, black flames appear on his Lockblade. "Oh come on," groaned Matt before jumping back to avoid NegaMorph slicing him in half.

Betrayl laughed, making some TV cameras and popcorn appeared. "Hey, Gamera, you enjoying the show?" she said to one of the camera's as Matt scrambled to get away from NegaMorph .

"Don't I at least get a sword or something?" yelled Matt.

"Oh, fine," said Betrayl gloomily, clicking her talons and dropping an ion staff in Matt's hands.

Matt barely had time to switch it on before he had to use it to block NegaMorph's next blow. "I'm gonna take you apart, rebel," snarled NegaMorph before blasting Matt back .

"NegaMorph, you've come a lot further than that. You hate the Empire, remember? They peeled you apart to make your replacement," said Matt.

"LIES! The Empire is forever!" snapped NegaMorph, aiming a downward blow at Matt.

...

Adwaita smirked. He had to admit that the chaos beast's method was entertaining. But there were other matters to attend to. While the Philosopher's Stone would likely be destroyed when he got it, he could at least exact retribution upon those who would try to cheat him, particularly Spellbinder's daughter. It was time he put an end to that insolent line.

...

Matt dodged another blow as Betrayl booed, "Hey, come on, the public wanna see a real fight!"

If she had cared to look, she would have seen that the shadow window was still open and that shadows were creeping along the ground towards her shadow. But she was too interested in Matt and NegaMorph's fight.

"I'm not gonna fight you, Nega," said Matt, parrying another blow and wishing he had dragon reflexes .

"Then this will be over quickly," said NegaMorph with relish before another blow sent the ion staff spinning out of Matt's hands. He kicked Matt down and lifted his blade up for the last blow. Betrayl poofed into a Roman emperor's outfit and dramatically held out her thumb sideways.  
"The empress decrees..." she began, ready to give a thumbs down as NegaMorph tried to pull the new Roman helmet on his head off before seeing she couldn't move her hand. "Hey, what gives?" she complained .

She tried to stand up but soon found her hold body immovable. She couldn't even turn her head to see the shadowy strings that have attached themselves to her shadow like a puppet. Her hand started to point upwards despite her applied resistance. "No...no..." she snapped before there was a thumb's up, NegaMorph looking angry .

Matt gave a sigh of relief before crawling away. "I don't care what she says, you're still going down!" snapped NegaMorph.

"Oh shut up," said Matt before plucking the Lockblade from NegaMorph's hands and stabbing it into his torso. It had a much bigger result that Matt would have expected, red lightning leaping out of the wound and NegaMorph going back to his normal shade of black, while Betrayl yelped as her finger was unexpectedly scorched.

There was a flash of flame before NegaMorph was back to normal, looking dazed. Betrayl however had been forced to conjure an extinguisher, spraying her now-burning hand . "What just happened?" asked NegaMorph.

"Betrayl gave you a mind whammy," said Matt.

"Oh she did, did she?" snarled NegaMorph, turning to glare at Betrayl, who was flapping her still-burning hand .

"Yeah, and I think she's overdue in revealing some crucial information," said Matt.

"Oh, look at the time, gotta go," said Betrayl desperately, vanishing in a flash of light .

"But she didn't have a watch," said NegaMorph before a grandfather clock suddenly dropped on top of him.

"Hmm, guess his brain wasn't fully up and running yet," observed Matt.

Hannah, still in Megan's body, appeared at that. "Indeed, tempting a chaos beast with such comments is rarely wise. Though I am surprised it tried to kill you. Usually they prefer non-injuring humiliation."

"Well, I suppose even they can get their feelings hurt enough," said Matt, "Anyhow, can you open up that door a little wider? Not sure if I can squeeze through it."

"Sure, but would you rather return to the Novus Star or help out the others in Ledgerdomain?" asked Hannah.

"NOBODY LEAVES!" roared a voice, Betrayl reappearing.

"Ok, this time, it goes right through her heart, assuming it's in the normal place. I can just stab her until I find it," said NegaMorph.

"No, let me deal with her," said Matt.

Betrayl landed, looking like a dragon again. "Giving up?" she snarled .

"If by that you mean 'surrendering and allowing you to do whatever you want with me', then no. I just want to talk for a minute," said Matt.

"And what could you possibly want to talk about that I would want to hear?" asked Betrayl.

"I thought you were dead...and I honestly thought you were Chloe...and I still think of you as family, albeit insane family, just means you fit in better." said Matt .

Betrayl froze in shock at that. "Are you saying you're forgiving me?" she asked.

"No, I'm saying you have the opportunity to be forgiven. There's a lot you have to make up for to get even close to being able to be forgiven, but a big step forward would be you telling me what you did with Chloe," said Matt.

Betrayl glared. "Why would I tell you that? So you can replace me?" she snarled .

"Hannah's technically a clone of me and she fits in as family without having to replace me," said Matt.

"Do you have any idea how weird that sounds?" asked NegaMorph.

"Yes, but it doesn't make it any less true...or awkward," said Matt.

Betrayl glared before saying evilly, "Well, I'm a much better version."

"I don't care what kind of powers you or Chloe have or what species either of you are, those don't make you a better person," said Matt.

"Oh really? I could easily make you think otherwise," snapped Betrayl, grabbing Matt and lifting him up.

"Go ahead, stick that finger straight through my head, see if I care," said Matt challengingly.

Betrayl glared, readying to do just that, before snarling and dropping Matt. "Huh...stupid conscience," she muttered . Matt gave a sigh of relief, that was one bluff that he didn't want her to call. "Grah, you stupid human, I should tear you apart," snarled Betrayl, causing NegaMorph and Matt to back up . But then Betrayl sighed and said, "But I suppose family shouldn't do that to each other...unless they really deserve it."

"That means you'll tell me where you put Chloe?" said Matt hopefully

"Well...I could...but I think you need to work for it," said Betrayl before poofing up a Rubik's cube, "Figure out this and you'll find out where she is. But just so you don't go home sad, would you like to see how I did it?"

Matt glared, grabbing the cube before twisting it a few times and then glaring at Betrayl who was getting ready to show off anyway .

"Wait, you're doing it wrong, let me try," said NegaMorph.

"Back off, I can figure this thing out," said Matt.

"You? You're terrible at charades, let alone puzzles," said NegaMorph dismissively.

"I CAN HANDLE IT!" yelled Matt at NegaMorph .

"Oh, this will be amusing," smirked Betrayl.

Matt glared before saying, "You're gonna show how you did it anyway, aren't you?"

"Well, I suppose I ought to. It's really quite-" started Betrayl before suddenly she was yanked backwards and vanished into purple mist.

Matt, Hannah and NegaMorph looked confused, Matt looking at the Rubik cube before pocketing it . "Uh, I'm not an expert on magic, but that didn't look voluntary, did it?" asked NegaMorph.

"No, it did not," said Hannah, "I'm thinking Adwaita has gotten impatient with her."

"Good, get me out of this desert. I want a word with Gamera," said Matt darkly .

"This will take just a moment to reroute you," said Hannah.

"Don't waste time, the others are probably in a big pickle by now," said NegaMorph.

...

The rest of the gang were waiting near the shadow portal. Rather unexpectedly, Megan had shown up not long after Matt had disappeared and had opened up the portal for NegaMorph to go through before stepping through herself.  
"Ok...anyone think it was weird that Megan just...turned up?" asked Techo .

"She is an accomplished sorceress," said Rook.

"Not that accomplished," muttered Techo .

"I think you guys need to give her a little more credit," said Gwen.

"You weren't there when she swapped everyone's heads," said Techo.

"That was practically years ago," said 'Megan' as she stepped through the shadow portal.

"By who's count? That was last week," said Techo.

"Hey, lay off of Hannah," said NegaMorph as he stepped through.

"Wait a sec, I thought that was Megan," said Ben.

"No, me and Megan haven't swapped back yet, I never said that I was Megan," said Hannah.

Techo twitched before saying, "So...who are you then?" clearly having a little moment

"Right now, your best ticket out of this place," said Hannah.

"Uh, we still got these," said Techo, holding up his emergency rip engine bracelet.

"And how long do you think they'll last against a magic-user of Adwaita's power?" asked Hannah.

"Good point...hey, is that Chris?" said Techo, pausing and activating his binocs to spot a figure staggering towards them .

Rook looked through his Proto-Tool's sight and said, "That does appear to be Chris, but he does not seem well."

Techo swore before calling, "Chris! OI Chris!" There was an inhuman moan from Chris, which quickly put the others on edge. Techo raised his rifle. "Oh, that's never good," he said gloomily, clicking the gun to heavy stun .

"Adwaita would never have let Chris go without some kind of trap involved," said Charmcaster.

"Rather like how we intended a trap with the Philosopher's Stone," noted Rook.

"Yeah...annoyingly..." said Techo, aiming a stunner round .

Chris staggered before falling to his hands and knees. Suddenly, his body started being covered in swirling shadows. The shadows thickened as his form started to bulk up. "Oh, that's not good." said Techo grimly, firing a few shots .

Chris's form surged inside the shadow, easily becoming three times bigger than any of the others. The shadows soon burst apart, revealing a huge wolf-like beast with a mouth that contained three different rows of teeth: tiger, wolf, and boar. It let out a savage roar that rattled the rocks around them.

"Oh...I...well...what the hell?" snapped Techo, switching to heavy ammo and firing .

Ben quickly spun through his different aliens and said, "Ok, Omnitrix, I really need something that can handle a giant magical monster. Let's see, Way Big? Does that seem too much?"

"I really doubt that right now," said NegaMorph as the Chris-beast lumbered towards them.

Ben slammed on the Omnitrix, releasing a flash of green light. When the light faded, he had changed into what looked like a double-elbowed green wyvern with brown hair and wing membranes and wearing a green and black uniform with the Omnitrix right under his collarbone. "Skydrake? I haven't used this guy in years," said Ben as he looked at himself.

"Oh, lovely, USE IT NOW!" yelled Techo, firing rapidly .

Skydrake took a deep breath before spitting out green plasma fire at the Chris-beast who backed up when it flared before him. "Nice, it's like having Matt back to abnormal," laughed Techo, blasting away .

At that moment, Matt had climbed out of the shadow portal. "What did I miss?" he asked before looking up at the Chris-beast and saying faintly, "Big dog..."

The Chris-beast snarled before trying to chomp Matt . Two layers of mana shield sprang up before the Chris-beast could get his triple jaws around Matt. "Matt, you need to wear him down without hurting him. It's Chris, Adwaita turned him into some kind of monster," said Gwen.

"Seems to be like shadow corruption to me," said Hannah, "We can remove the taint if you boys can keep him occupied for a while."

Matt nodded, shifting form and letting loose a sonic howl in Chris's face .

Chris backed away from the noise assaulting his ears and nearly stepped off the ledge he was on. "I said wear him down, not bring him down," said Gwen. Chris's head whipped round to look at Gwen at that, only for a blast to hit him in the side as Techo fired .

"Don't take too much time about this," said Skydrake. Matt looked and him and yelled, "GHOULWYRM!" before opening fire on him.

"Hey! Cut it out! I'm not Ghoulwyrm, I'm Ben!" yelped Skydrake as he barely dodged Matt's assault.

Matt paused before taking a better look. "Oh, sorry, force of habit," he said. Chris took that opportunity to swat Matt .

Gwen sighed and said, "Ok, girls, let's get to work before someone gets eaten." Hannah nodded, sending a blast of shadows at Chris .

Meanwhile, NegaMorph had gotten close to Chris and was climbing up his side. "Why can't these things ever be simple?" he muttered to himself. Chris didn't seem to be noticing the creature crawling up though.

Meanwhile, the three girls had formed an energy triangle between them and were focusing their power into it. "Ok, Adwaita would use unfiltered shadow energy to corrupt someone like that," said Charmcaster.

"And shadow energy is naturally drawn to bigger sources," said Hannah.

"So we just need a source of darkness to draw out the corruption from Chris, like NegaMorph's Lockblade," said Gwen, "Ok girls, we need a draining spell attuned to darkness that can be attached to that Lockblade."

"Just hurry up, Chris is pretty hard to keep a hold of!" yelled NegaMorph.

The three girls started chanting arcane words while mana poured into their energy triangle. The triangle glowed before turning red and shrinking down into a small ruby. "Ok, NegaMorph, you just need to put this on the pommel and use your Lockblade on Chris," called Gwen before throwing the ruby towards NegaMorph.

NegaMorph nodded, catching the ruby and slamming it into his Lockblade . A red light appeared around the blade before NegaMorph stabbed it into Chris's back. Chris roared as shadow energy started flowing up the blade and into the ruby. As more energy was drained out, Chris started to shrink and get darker. When he became pure black, he split in many pieces, allowing a human Chris to tumble to the ground while the shadow energy swirled into the ruby which became jet black.

"Urgh...ow," Chris groaned before passing out .

NegaMorph took off the darkened ruby and tossed it away, which turned out to be a good thing as it exploded 5 seconds later. "Ok, we got Chris back, Betrayl gave us something to find Chloe with, so do we have any other reason to stick around here?" he asked.

"We need to stop Adwaita...he...he won't stop to get that stone..." groaned Chris .

Skydrake turned back into Ben and said, "If he wants it that much, why doesn't he come and get it himself?"

"For once, the human has made a sensible suggestion," said a voice out of nowhere before Adwaita appeared in a flash of light.

"I really need to stop saying things like that," said Ben.

Mat and Techo turned at that and opened fire with everything they had, only for the shots to be stopped easily . "Do you really think your technology has any power here? Aerugino!" said Adwaita as he waved his hand, sending a wave of magic over the gang. As the wave passed over, almost all of the metal on them became corroded and rusted.

Matt twitched at that, his wristcomp sparking as the magic overloaded the NSC systems . "Now, remove whatever trap you have fixed upon the Philosopher's Stone and give it to me," said Adwaita.

Matt seemed to be twitching a bit as Techo said, "Where'd you put the nutter?"

"The chaos beast is of little concern," said Adwaita.

"In other words, she gave him the slip and he has no idea where she is," said NegaMorph smugly.

"No, I have her exactly where I want: in a nightmare of her own choosing," said Adwaita smugly .

"What does that mean?" asked Rook.

"It means she is suffering exactly as any thief should," sneered Adwaita .

"I suppose you're expecting us to hand over the Philosopher's Stone to save her now," said Techo.

"She will remain in suffering regardless of the Stone's position, you will be trading the Stone for your lives," said Adwaita.

"And what would you do with this little pebble?" demanded Matt .

"The Stone is a fountain of mana, but I shall make it into a mana drainer. All those who have stolen mana from me shall be forced to return it," said Adwaita.

"Oh, mass murder, you want to be attacked by DARKRIFT then," said Matt calmly .

"No living being will be a threat to me," said Adwaita, "If you want to make your miserable lives last a little longer, you will remove the trap on the Stone and give it to me."

"Make me," growled Matt angrily . A bolt of mana immediately struck Matt in the chest. The others yelped as Matt staggered back, falling to his knees, only for Matt to laugh. "I had...my arm reduced to shreds by a psychotic psychic dragon...you really think...I care?" he snapped.

Adwaita simply blasted Matt again before saying, "Give me the Stone."

"No...not...gonna..." winced Matt, before pausing and starting to laugh...a rather cruel laugh. The others started edging away from Matt, recognizing that particular laugh he was producing. Adwaita glared, his glare narrowing as he sensed the laugh seemed to be attracting alot of mana.

"Is Matt capable of using magic?" asked Rook.

"Are you kidding? He can't even spell my name right," said NegaMorph.

"Erm...he's growling scales," said Chris carefully, edging for a large rock .

"Er, those are just Kineceleran scales," said Techo unconvincingly. A large cloud of mana started swirling around Matt which soon started growing larger. A deep growl was heard within the cloud as a pair of horns started emerging from the top of it.

"Uh oh," said Ben.

"Oh...please tell me it's not-" began Chris before a blast of plasma mana blew the rest of the mana away, showing a very Avalarian dragon. "Ooooh..." it said in Matt's voice, stretching, "It is _good_ to be back..."

"That's not Matt in control, is it?" asked Gwen.

"I highly doubt it," said Techo.

Adwaita glared at Matt at that. "Thief, how dare you...and in my pres-" he began before 'Matt' simply shrugged and spat a blast that set off an explosion that destroyed half the rock platform.

"You talk too much, Gamera."

Adwaita soon flew back up and said, "You shall pay dearly for attempting to strike the Lord of All Magic."

"Bring it on, I'm in the mood for turtle soup today," said 'Matt' before lunging at Adwaita.

Techo sighed. "I hope this is only temporary," he said, checking the chem on the stone .

NegaMorph was about to start into the battle when Hannah put a hand on his shoulder. "I think Draconus has got this," she said, "Right now, we need to go and free Betrayl while Adwaita's busy."

"We do?" said NegaMorph suspiciously .

"I mean, even she hasn't done anything to deserve being locked in an endless nightmare," said Hannah. NegaMorph didn't look convinced. "Plus she hasn't explained what she actually did with Chloe and we could probably get a straighter answer out of her than solving a puzzle cube," added Hannah.

"Fair enough, but where would she be?" asked NegaMorph.

Chris said weakly, "The castle...the main throne room...Gamera over there likes to watch the torture."

"Oh, just a hop away," said Hannah as she grabbed NegaMorph before jumping into a shadow portal.

...

The group reappeared in Adwaita's throne room and immediately had to cover their ears, Betrayl in a mana orb, screaming .

"Oh look, rescuers," said Bezel, who was somehow able to make his voice heard above the screams.

"Bezel? What are you doing here?" called Gwen.

"Oh, Adwaita captured me while you were busy in Wales. You did notice that I was gone, right?" asked Bezel.

"We thought you'd just teleported away," said NegaMorph, poking Betrayl's bubble .

"Without saying goodbye? I do have some manners," said Bezel, sounding offended.

"Urgh...do you know why she's screaming?" snapped NegaMorph, pointing at Betrayl .

"Well, that mana bubble is forcing her to relive her worse experiences, probably magnified. And she probably feels every bit of pain as if it were real," said Bezel.

NegaMorph glared at the bubble before shoving a shadow tendril into it...

...

...and appeared in what looked like an empire lab not dissimilar to where he was taken apart. Except a DARKRIFT flag was on the far wall.

NegaMorph shuddered as he looked at it. DARKRIFT had a very scary reputation, particularly to monsters. Quite a few unique specimens have passed into their hands and never saw the light of day again. NegaMorph used to worry that NSC would throw him to DARKRIFT if he ever fell out of line.

A calm voice said, "Ok then subject alpha. Let's try again...what is your name?"

"It's...up...your..." said Betrayl's voice before there was a zapping sound and Betrayl's screaming.

"Subject is vulnerable to electricity 3 times higher than standard human lethal...prepare deathstone exposure...non-lethality," said the voice, Betrayl's voice becoming terrified.

"Hey, I didn't do anything to deserve this much torturing!" snapped Betrayl.

"You came from the uncharted territories and drove the crew of the S&amp;R ship that found you insane. You're a threat to any world you land on, creature and as such...are our concern," said the voice coldly as a hatch opened and a sealed canister began to rise .

NegaMorph ducked back and merged with the shadows. Even if this place wasn't real, he wasn't going to take the chance that he could killed for real here. However, he could hear Betrayl screaming as well as the acidic hiss of deathstone energy at work. "Ok, how am I supposed to break her out of this mess?" NegaMorph asked himself.

"You need to change the history?" said a slightly smug male voice by him.

"How am I supposed to do- There's something weird and creepy behind me, isn't there?" said NegaMorph.

"Oh...just a concerned father," said a draconequus peering upside down into his vision, though NegaMorph could see through him, showing he was only there in spirit .

"Father...not in the biological sense, right?" asked NegaMorph.

"Of course not. Well, we do share, what do you call it, DNA, but she was born of my magic, not of my-"

"Ok, ok, just making sure," said NegaMorph, "So, how are we supposed to spring your kid?"

"Well, this is a rather nasty memory. I mean, who used deathstone anymore?" said the creature, now floating next to NegaMorph .

"It's standard procedure against magical creatures, particularly the more ancient and powerful ones," said NegaMorph.

"She is a child. At this point, a year old. Compared to my glorious self, that's barely a glint," said the creature, anger detected in his voice .

"Yeah, but she's still a lot of trouble for her age, not to mention a lot smarter than most one-year olds," said NegaMorph, "Heck, I'm not that old either.

"Of course she is. We need to know what to do to avoid destroying ourselves," said the creature .

"Yeah, experience counts for a lot. So, should we just monkey wrench the place or do something more flashy?" asked NegaMorph.

"Oh I can't do anything. I doubt my friend would approve and I have no wish to be a statue again," said the creature.

"You're not even real. You're just a figment of her imagination," said NegaMorph.

"Oh, no I'm not...but I would hardly be prince of chaos if I didn't have a way to keep an eye on my daughter's wellbeing," said the creature smugly .

"Oh, makes sense. So you're not going to actively help me with this, but can you at least passively help?" asked NegaMorph.

"Of course, just don't tell sunbutt." said the creature smugly, before sticking his claws in NegaMorph, causing NegaMorph to become solid .

"You better not mess with my head," warned NegaMorph.

"Oh, if you insist," said the creature, vanishing just as a voice said, "Hey...what's that?"

"I guess I've just gone from observer to participator," said NegaMorph before pulling out his Lockblade, "Well, I can't get in trouble for killing hallucinations."

A beep from his tekpack got his attention as that as several DARKRIFT troopers ran in, the message reading, "Alert...unauthorized temporal shift."

"Wait, what? But how is that-" started NegaMorph had to start avoid laserfire.

"It's General NegaMorph, take him out!" called one trooper, firing several shots that hissed...deathstone rounds

"Ok, this has gotten a lot more complicated," grumbled NegaMorph before fading into the shadows.

"Switch to void scanners," said the squad leader, the troopers putting shimmering visors on that, to NegaMorph, had no glass in.

"Oh smeg," said NegaMorph before heading for Betrayl's containment field. If he got her out of there, he should pop back to where he came from.

"Shoot him down! Private, liquidate subject alpha!" called a trooper.

"Not on my watch," said NegaMorph before sending out a wave of negative energy, heavily laced with sloth. Some of the troopers dropped at that...though one stayed standing, wearing what was clearly illegal tech, confirmed when it opened up at him with turbolaser weaponry.

"Oh this can't be realistic," snapped NegaMorph as he had to split up his body in several places.

Betrayl meanwhile was staring in shock at the fight as the mech trooper tried to get close to NegaMorph . "Hey, little lady, your bail's been paid and you're being released to do, uh, community service and stuff... I need to practice these lines, Lynch makes it look so easy," muttered NegaMorph.

"Yeah...it kinda needs...oh that'll smart," said Betrayl as the mech trooper got its hand around NegaMorph's head and squeezed.  
NegaMorph groaned as his head regenerated, "Dammit, now everything'll taste funny for weeks." The mech trooper grabbed NegaMorph's body and stretched it out over its head. "Ok, now I'm gonna have to be messy about this," said NegaMorph before turning to liquid slime and splattering over the trooper, getting into the cracks and seams.

The trooper sparked before its pilot jumped out just before it exploded, leaving NegaMorph standing . "Ok, now that's done, let's wrap this up before this nightmare-" said NegaMorph before slapping a hand over his mouth. 'Don't give it any ideas,' he thought to himself, 'Just get Betrayl outta here and quit fooling around.'

"You're here to let me out?" said Betrayl, her voice with a frightened sadness that wasn't in the one they'd met.

"Well, yeah, if you aren't gonna put any effort into this yourself," said NegaMorph sarcastically.

"But...but I shouldn't...not after last time..." said Betrayl in a scared voice .

"You got a stained record already. What difference would it make adding more onto it," said NegaMorph as he started hacking at the containment chamber.

The window finally gave way to NegaMorph as Betrayl nodded. "You're right...they think they can hold me? ME?" she said, a manic tone coming in .

"Uh, shouldn't I be getting out of here now?" asked NegaMorph.

"I suppose so," said the voice of the creature from earlier before NegaMorph heard what sounded like something clicking their fingers...and he vanished .

...

The next thing NegaMorph knew, he was right back at the throne room. "Did it work?" he asked dizzily.

Betrayl was floating in front of him with the same mad look he'd last seen on her. "I remember yoooou…" she said in a crazed tone .

"In a good way or 'I should be running right now' way?" asked NegaMorph.

"You showed me what I could do if I really tried," said Betrayl evilly .

"Probably gonna feel guilty about that," muttered NegaMorph.

"What's to feel guilty about?" cackled Betrayl.

"Uh, for starters, getting rid of your good twin and taking her place," said NegaMorph.

"Oh please, I was around before her. I stopped him going potty when he was trapped in pastel pony land," sneered Betrayl .

"That doesn't make it right to... I'm sorry, what?" asked NegaMorph.

"Didn't he tell you?" laughed Betrayl insanely .

"Uh, no, he's keeping pretty tight-lipped about it," said NegaMorph.

"Of course...didn't want the NSC building condos there," laughed Betrayl like it was the biggest joke in the world.

"I don't really care what you're talking about. I just want to know what you've done with the real Chloe," said NegaMorph.

"Maybe I don't feel like telling you," said Betrayl teasingly.

"Hey, I got you out of that nightmare bubble so you owe it to me to tell. In fact, I'm making that a direct order!" snapped NegaMorph.

Betrayl paused as Bezel said "Oh dear..." rather gloomily.

"You? Force me into order?" growled Betrayl, her voice going very deep, "Bad...move." There was a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder.

Bezel smartly stepped aside as NegaMorph splatted into the wall next to him. "Chaos beings really hate the 'o' word," he said cheerfully.

"Should have remembered that," said NegaMorph, "Wait, weren't you in a cage?"

"Oh, she just broke it open, along with most of the stuff in here," said Bezel, looking around the smashed throne room.

"You dare to order me...ME?" roared Betrayl, back in the dragon form, though it looked alot more demonic now .

"I'm calling in a debt, you know you owe me," said NegaMorph.

"I don't care..." snarled Betrayl, advancing on the duo .

"Ooh, she looks mad, maybe we should ask her to leave," said Bezel.

"Oh, yeah, sure, like she'll listen to anyone," said NegaMorph.

"Then I'll have to insist. Exieis," said Bezel before Betrayl disappeared in a poof of golden dust.

NegaMorph stared before yelling, "WE NEEDED HER FOR ANSWERS!"

"Hey, she gave you the puzzle cube, didn't she?" pointed out Hannah.

"But we have no idea what she actually did to Chloe!" snapped NegaMorph.

"Oh, just takes a bit of scrying," said Bezel, "Your niece can show you that easily."

"Fine..." muttered NegaMorph darkly, opening a shadow portal .

"Uh, shouldn't we be getting Matt now?" pointed out Gwen.

"I have a feeling he's doing ok," said NegaMorph before ducking as a wall was demolished, Matt tossed in .

"Ok, Matt's back. Let's grab him before Draconus wakes back up or Adwaita shows up," said Techo.

"Too late," said an angry voice, Adwaita descending through the hole as Draconus slowly pulled himself to his feet .

"I got this," said Ben activating the Omnitrix and changing into Terraspin.

Adwaita raised an eyeridge and said, "Is some sort of foolish ploy to appeal to my nostalgia?"

"No, this is just me changing into a form that you won't be able to blast with magic," said Terraspin before blowing a strong gust of wind at Adwaita.

However, several slots opened up on Adwaita's plastron and sucked in the wind that Terraspin sent at him. "You think I've forgotten how my people's powers worked just because I've not used them for so long? You're a greater fool than I thought," said Adwaita before sending a powerful gale at the team.

The group were sent flying back, Matt grumbling as he came too, his eyes glaring at Adwaita. "You...little...terrapin," he growled .

"This is your last chance: give me the Philosopher's Stone," demanded Adwaita.

"You want it so bad? Then here you go," said Hannah before making the Stone disappear from her hand and appear over Adwaita's head. It fell and hit his head before the flames ignited the chemical agent and exploded quite spectacularly. "Quick! Let's get out of here before he comes to!" called Hannah before opening up a big shadow gateway.

Matt bared his teeth at Hannah at that before Charmcaster blasted him with a spell. In a flash of purple light, Matt shrank down into a tiny dragon statue. A similar purple light surrounded Charmcaster before sucking her back into her purse. "Hey! I was doing you guys a favor!" yelled her squeaky voice.

"Time to go!" said Techo desperately . NegaMorph grabbed the Matt totem and jumped into the shadow gateway, the rest quickly following. Adwaita came too in time to see Techo, the last one give him the finger. "Bye," he said cheerfully, as the portal sealed .

Adwaita let out a roar of frustration that more befitted a giant lizard than a giant turtle.

...

The gateway opened up to Megan's room and dumped everyone out. "Don't you guys ever knock?" snapped Megan.

"Like we were the one to pick... Hold on," said Chris before noticing that there were two copies of Megan's body in the room as well Hannah's body.

Everyone turned to look at the other Megan who said dizzily "Is it pizza time already?"

NegaMorph pointed at Hannah and Megan while saying, "Megan's body, Megan's mind..." He pointed at the 'Hannah' who had been with them and asked, "And you would be?"

'Hannah' grinned and said, "Megan's future." Shadows suddenly swirled up around her form before parting, revealing a grown-up version of Megan's hybrid form wearing a sort of black princess dress with rather voluminous skirts and a high collar. Most noticeably, she had two relatively normal arms on either side of her torso and normal, if longer and more pointed, ears.

"No future niece of mine is wearing THAT!" snapped NegaMorph on automatic .

"Oh calm down, Uncle Nega," said Future Megan, "I don't wear this all the time. This is just one of my work outfits."

"WORK CLOTHES?" screamed NegaMorph before he literally exploded .

Future Megan just shook her head before waving at both Megan and Hannah with her four arms and chanted, "Transfera Identica." The two of them gasped before reddish light came out of their mouths and entered each other's.

Megan's body blinked and looked at herself before saying with her proper voice, "Hey, I'm me again." She looked at her future self and added, "Or I am having one insanely crazy dream."

"Dream," said Techo quickly, firing a stun dart at her before glaring, "Paradox much? Bugger off back to your own ship."

"Hey, this is important," said Future Megan, "I need to remember this clearly so I'll be able to do this again the next time around." Then she pointed at both present Megan and Matt and said, "Restora Sanitas."

There was a flash before Megan was awake and Matt was back to his normal form. Matt blinked and looked around before asking, "What just happened?"

"Oh, Megan broke every temporal law the NSC ever wrote," said Techo sarcastically .

"It's a stable time loop," said Future Megan, "You know, the past version watches what the future version does so that they can repeat that event when it's their turn."

"Yeah, time loop full stop is bad. Does your version of the crew know?" snapped Chris .

"Well, yeah, considering you guys were here too the last time," said Future Megan, "But the information I bring is really important. You think I'd just show up to show my younger self how awesome a sorceress I'll become?"

There was a universal 'yes' from everyone at that .

Future Megan sighed and said, "I've forgotten how much you guys used to stomp on my self-esteem. Well, do you want my help or would you rather spend speed headlong to wherever Chloe is without having any idea what will be waiting you guys?"

"It's what we usually do," said Matt dizzily .

"Trust me, this is important," said Future Megan before exhaling and linking her four hands together in an intricate way. Then she intoned, "Veils of time becoming looking glass, show me events that come and pass." A light blue mirror of energy appeared before her and shone light around the room. "Take me back and show the day that Chloe Lynch was spirited away," commanded Future Megan before the mirror shone brighter and started revealing images.

...

Chloe checked round a corner, waving Syva along. They'd had to take a basement stairway further back to avoid running into the Center team. They had to be careful to avoid the slime. It might not be mutative to them, but they didn't want their minds be messed with.

"So...tell me about your brother. I've only heard rumors," Syva asked, making the shadows flow away to light the corridor better.

"Well, I'm not sure how much you've heard about the time he was wandering around the multiverse when I've disappeared," said Chloe.

"I heard that he tried to replace you when he ended up on a world full of talking creatures," said Syva, letting Chloe pass with a shark-like grin.

"Talking creatures?" asked Chloe skeptically before saying, "But I'm pretty sure that replacement thing's dead wrong. Like Matt could even come close to replacing me."

"Oh, I've heard a lot, spitting image I heard," said Syva smugly, some shadows forming into blades silently .

"Oh, probably a misunderstanding," said Chloe, "Like Matt using a holodeck to duplicate my presence...which is kinda creepy I admit."

"Oh it wasn't that, my dear," said Syva, her blades shooting forward only for Chloe to easily dodge.

"You must think I'm moronic," she snapped, sending a lightning bolt into Syva .

Syva literally faded into the shadows, but her voice continued to echo around Chloe, "You know, you and MOM were both right. Ghoulwyrm was expecting a little getting out today and we were very helpful in compromising their security."

Chloe glared, "Alpha, I presume? I thought you were on your way with DARKRIFT." getting a laugh.

"Those idiot? I let them hold me..."

"And where's the real Syva?" demanded Chloe.

"Naked, but unharmed. Probably still in the closet in the spaceport," said the voice, sounding less like Syva.

"I beat you last time. I can beat you again," snapped Chloe getting a laugh that caused her to shiver as it said. "Oh that, I let you win. It didn't even tingle. Maybe if we'd met when I was first born, but I've had 3 years to supercharge up. Dad would be so proud."

"What are you anyways?" demanded Chloe.

"I've had a few names on my multiverse tour; 'pain in the ass', 'please oh god stop doing it', but I like the name my dad gave me, Betrayl," sneered the voice .

"What a fitting name," said Chloe.

"Thanks," said Betrayl from behind Chloe . Chloe spun around and lashed out. She went pale when her hand and blade passed harmlessly through the chimera floating behind her, who proceeded to click her talons, Chloe's weapons vanishing in a flash of light and reappearing behind Betrayl.

"Now then, you see, I was there to keep Matt sane. He's my friend...and you left him...and tried to kill him. Hardly sisterly behavior...and I'm sure he would not approve of your little Plan D: a plan to kill him if he goes Draconuss'y? That's terrible," said Betrayl, advancing .

"And you think you can do better?" snapped Chloe, backing away.

"I know I can," said Betrayl, turning into Chloe's doppelganger. "But we can't have two...so..." she said before getting a bright grin "I know...I can put you somewhere where your bloodthirstiness will go down great." summoning a dart gun, similar to ones from Dr. Circe's old ship, Chloe recognizing the symbol for a mindwipe serum before a dart shot into her shoulder. "Don't worry, you'll like it. I even set up a nice home for you to retire though. Though sadly I removed your dragon abilities, that'd be hax," sad Betrayl cheerfully, her voice distorting, "Oh, and I know how much you like Chris so I'll take good care of him for you. But I'll leave you something to remember him by."

Chloe glared before her eyes turned into spirals as Betrayl hit her with a hypnosis spell before Betrayl opened a portal that showed a snowy mountainside. "Have fun on Mundus. Or Nirn or Tamriel or whatever they call that place," she said before tossing Chloe through and slamming the portal shut.

...

Betrayl smirked evilly before picking up Chloe's gear and clicking it on, saying into the comm. "Guys...bad news...one of those mutants got Syva...she's dead," she said, doing some mock sadness

"We'll burn those freaks for that," growled Chris.

"No, no, we've already made a bad enough first impression with the Center already," said Betrayl, "We need to play by their rules."

"Say what? We're letting these amateurs take the show? By the way, Matt's awake, back in control and headed for the boiler with what I think is prolonged murder in mind, orders?" said Wilson.

"Get plenty of fire suppressants and follow him," said Betrayal, "In fact, get a lot of knockout gas too. You know how we dragons can get carried away."

"You ok, girl? You don't sound yourself. You were ready to tear that monster apart yourself," said Wilson suspiciously, causing Betrayl to sweat a little .

"Well...seeing Syva get torn open...it's...it's...I can even describe it," said Betrayl, feigning distress, "I just want to get Matt and Kala out of this mess so we can head home."

"Hell no, we got a contract to complete." said Chris cheerfully, signing off and causing Betrayl to fume.

...

Matt glared as Betrayl left Chloe in the snow. "I tried to reason with that lunatic..." he said insanely .

"Betrayl isn't completely rotten to the core," said Future Megan, "She lacks self-control and discipline. Those aren't easy things to develop when you're all alone."

"I know that planet. It was one of my fav video games. So imagine how I was surprised to know DARKRIFT uses it _AS A PRISON_!" snapped Matt .

"So getting there isn't gonna be easy," said NegaMorph.

"Yeah, especially since just finding is near impossible," snapped Matt.

"I know where it is, but magic doesn't work there properly. That's why the NSC uses it to dump magic users," said Future Megan .

"Then tell us where it is!" snapped Matt.

"Hmm...no, that's not it's going to work out," said Future Megan, "Don't worry, it won't take you guys long to figure out that puzzle cube."

"Fix it NOW!" yelled Matt .

"Sorry, but I need to be going. Ask Chip to look into it. It won't take long," said Future Megan before whispering into Present Megan's ear, "One last thing, when Gary asks about growing a mustache, support him. He'll look handsome with one." With that, she said to the others, "Well, I'll, I mean, she'll see you guys in six years. Don't do anything crazier with the time continuum." With that, she opened a shadow portal and vanished.

Matt just stared, speechless before he said, "Megan...you're grounded."

"Oh, that's real fair. Grounding me for something I haven't done yet," said Megan sarcastically.

"Enough! To your room!" snapped Matt .

"We're already in my room," pointed out Megan.

"Ok...in that case...everyone else OUT!" yelled Matt .

...

After dropping Gwen and Bezel back at her school, Matt headed over to Chip's room and called out, "Hey, Chip, you solved that puzzle yet?" There was a flurry of tantalog swear words before the Rubik's cube was thrown out the open door and hit a wall.

"Is that a no?" asked Matt as Morph waddled up and pulled the cube out the wall.

"That stupid cube cheats!" yelled Chip as he stormed out of his room, "Every time I get one side all one color, all the sides randomize! I've tried it from every approach I can conceive but it keeps resetting itself!"

Matt paused at that. "Wait...why would Betrayl have given us a Rubik cube?" he asked .

"True, a chaos spirit would have done something more random and outside of the box," said Chip.

"Oh, don't feel bad," said Morph, "Not everyone can do these things like I can," said Morph.

"Oh please. Like you could ever figure out a Rubik's cube," said Chip sarcastically.

"Sure, you just peel off the stickers and rearrange them like this," said Morph before quickly moving around the stickers on the cube, "Nothing to it." Then the cube started glowing with rainbow light and floated out of Morph's hands.

Matt and Chip stared open-mouthed. "Mooooorph…" Matt growled .

Then the cube split apart into its component parts which flew out before projecting a holographic starmap with detailed coordinates. "Annnd that is the Mundus star system," said Matt in shock .

"Ooh...pretty," said Morph before taking out a camera and taking several pictures.

"And that's Mundus," said Matt thoughtfully .

"Well, I guess we know where we're going next...after we take care of this whole Revenite Mirror business," said Chip.

"Sure, we'll just ask Future...GODDAMMIT!" snapped Matt.

"Look at it this way; we'll eventually get that mirror back for sure. Otherwise, we'd never have gone back to our original point of time and live out the exciting adventures that everyone has been keeping us from hearing to our tantalized agony," said Chip.

"Chip, find that damn mirror or I'll install Windows 8 on you," said Matt darkly .

"Don't be so angry," said Morph, "Chloe's a big girl. She can take care of herself on Nirn."

"It's called Mundus," said Matt dully.

"That's not what I heard," said Morph.

"Morph, stop talking for the next week," said Matt annoyed .

"Make me," said Morph rather stupidly. Matt shrugged before pulling out a plasma pistol and blasting Morph . "I'm ok," said Morph's disembodied mouth.

...

Meanwhile, Future Megan was back in her workplace, doing some reading for her next project. She had replaced her voluminous dress for one much more simple, one that made it easy for one to notice her draconic legs and her tail which now ended with a head not unlike a dragon's. "I hope the rest of their stay in the future won't be too rough," Megan muttered to herself, "Unless they do something really out of line, they ought to be fine. They're gonna have enough trouble after going back to the right time already."

* * *

There's the next chapter and we had quite a bit of exposition in it, particularly about Betrayl. Now we know what happened to Chloe and where she is, though we won't be doing much about it until the end of this story. There is still some adventure left before the gang can go after Chloe and that'll be truly be starting soon. By the way, Skydrake is an original alien of mine, one I made up back when the first Ben 10 series was running. Anyhow, the next few chapters might take a while to get up, but not too long. Keep an eye out for them and please review.


	11. Regent Relapse

**Reticence Saga**

**The Aliens Within**

**Chapter 11: Regent Relapse**

When Betrayl's cover was blown, every bit of Chloe's room was scrubbed. Matt wanted no chances of her leaving any surprises behind.

"Ok, artifact 39, a diary," said Chris, sounding a little annoyed himself. Matt had been...pretty ruthless in his purge .

"Careful, for all we know, Betrayl left a little piece of herself inside that diary ready to possess the next person who writes in it," said Matt.

"That's rubbish," said Chris darkly, opening the book, and looking at the first page, looking up at a crash to see Matt had dived for cover .

"It's your sister's handwriting," said Chris dully.

"Oh, like Betrayl couldn't have mastered forgery along with her other imitation skills?" asked Matt dryly.

"The last entry's just before the mission with the Center where we got the news that our Khan backup had been replaced," said Chris .

"Ah, so Betrayl didn't add anything to it," said Matt before the thought fully processed and he snatched at the diary, "Stop reading that, that's my sister's diary!"

"Doesn't matter, she'll kill us both for ransacking her room when we get her back," said Chris casually, tossing the diary over.

"She's gonna kills us several times over for a lot of things when we get her back," said Matt grimly. The two turned to leave, only for the door to slam in their faces. "Again, really? Aria, another door's malfunctioning!" Matt snapped .

"Sorry, sir, one moment," said Aria before the door opened again.

"I'm starting to think this ship isn't as top-class as I- YIPE!" said Matt, the last part coming from when the door suddenly slammed on his tail.

"Oh...that'll leave a mark," winced Chris .

After Matt extracted his tail from the door, he snapped, "Aria, I want you to troubleshoot all of the systems on this flying scrapyard now!"

"At once, sir," said Aria calmly, the calmness somehow annoying .

"I'm betting Betrayl is behind this somehow," growled Matt as he and Chris got onto the turbolift.

"I doubt it. If she was, she woulda done it ages ago," said Chris calmly .

"Yeah, I guess this hunk of junk really is falling down all around us," grumbled Matt. The speaker crackled at that, an insectoid hiss coming out before it cut off again .

"What was that?" asked Chris.

"Probably just another bug in the system," said Matt.

The lift came to a halt at that, a calm voice saying, "Emergency stop engaged."

"Figures. I can't go anywhere today without something breaking down on me," said Matt. The lift suddenly shook and Matt and Chris nearly fell over.

"That include the magnets holding this thing up?" asked Chris nervously.

"Magnetic locks disengaging," said the same calm female voice, before it said in a cheerful voice, "You are both going to die."

Matt and Chris had only time to look at each other before gravity reversed itself and they found themselves hitting the ceiling as the lift dropped.

"ARIA! ENGAGE THE LIFT BRAKES!" yelled Matt .

"En...ge..." said Aria's voice through a lot of static.

"I never thought we'd die this way...killed by a lift," moaned Matt before the lift began to slow . Soon enough, the velocity decreased to the point where normal gravity was reestablished.

Matt and Chris panted till their hearts were pounding at normal rate before the lift opened, "Deck 7...have a nice day."

Matt and Chris quickly scrambled out of the lift. "Ok, does it sound the least bit paranoid if I say that this ship is trying to kill me?" asked Matt.

"Yes, but it's well-founded paranoia," said Chris.

"Commander to all crew, be advised, the malfunctions have spread to the turbolift system," said Matt .

"Not to pour more fuel on the fire, but what's going to malfunction next?" asked Chris.

"I don't think I want to know. Techo, disconnect the weaponry from the mainframe. Let's not have a misfire of a cluster nuke," said Matt .

"Right," said Techo.

"And, double check the security on the airlocks while you're at it. I'd rather not have our atmosphere ejected along with anyone unfortunate enough to be next to one."

...

It was half an hour later. "We _need_ permission to leave orbit. We got another malfunction and this time it nearly dropped a cluster of tanks on Idaho," said a technician's voice from the Novus Star.

"I thought you guys couldn't go anywhere without that positronic whatsit," said Ben.

"We need to leave orbit, any other planet, preferably uninhabited. The next malfunction could be the reactor. If this ship goes up, it'll cook the country we're over," said the techie desperately .

"Fine, but we ought to have someone go with you to make sure you don't wander into anything you're supposed to know about ahead of time," said Max.

"You don't understand. We are abandoning ship..." said the tech before the line cut off.

"Considering what that particular ship is capable of, I think it is most imperative that we send some of our forces to make sure nothing goes wrong with this," said Rook. Max nodded, before the view port shook as several pelican dropships shot by. From the looks of things, everyone was jumping ship.

"Considering how needed that ship is, I think we should pitch in as much as we can to fix that thing," said Max, "Ben, you and Rook will be taking Blukic and Driba to the Novus Star. Maybe they can find the problem with the ship's systems."

"Matt's not gonna like it," said Ben.

...

Matt was overseeing several injured that were transferring to a dropship. "Come on, pick up the pace!" he called, before the reason for panic was heard. "Alert...reactor meltdown detected...4 minutes to detonation."

"When I get my hands on those engineers back on Avalar..." growled Matt.

A transport landed at that, causing Matt to spin. "I thought..." he began before Ben and Rook came out. "What are you doing?" he snapped angrily, marching towards the duo as the medical ship took off .

"Trying to help you save this ship," said Ben.

"Yes, we brought our own tech team to assist," said Rook.

"Tech team? Oh no, please don't tell me you brought..." groaned Matt.

Blukic and Driba hopped out of the transport and Driba said, "This place is too wide. How can you get anywhere without having to run?"

"You ought to have something more compact," said Blukic.

"Excuse me, ship about to explode? Everyone off the damn ship!" snapped Matt .

"We can fix your reactor," said Driba. "Besides, it's probably just bluffing," said Blukic.

"How could a reactor be bluffing?" asked Driba.

"A ship won't blow itself up for no reason," said Blukic.

"No it couldn't," said Driba.

"Yes it could," said Blukic."

"Warning...core breach in 2 minutes...engaging hyperdrive to clear inhabited planets," said a calm voice .

"Guys, I'm ordering you off my ship before it destroys itself!" snapped Matt.

"Nobody is leaving...the command crew goes down with the ship..." said the voice, sounding distorted, before a turret folded down from the ceiling and blasted the remaining transports .

"Did I forget to mention the ship is actively trying to kill me?" said Matt in a casual way.

"Meltdown averted...setting course for sector 31-Z," said the voice at that .

"Sector 31-Z? The no-man's zone?" asked Rook.

"Which is inhabited by a certain species of technorganic termites," said Matt darkly, "Aria, kill the engines. You can still do that, can't you?"

"I can..." started Aria before she was cut off with a lot of static.

Matt quickly went over the nearest computer screen and said, "Aria, speak up, I know you're still there." A very blurry image of Aria slowly appeared on the screen. She seemed to be saying something, but there was just the same buzzing from the lift. "Ok, so Aria is off. There should be an override in the computer core, just like the Skyraid," said Matt .

"Yeah, but I'm betting those nanochips won't let us walk on through," said Ben.

"How do we know it's nanochips?" said Matt accusingly .

"Gwen and Kevin told us about what you found in Sector 31-Z," said Rook, "And it would make perfect sense."

"But we flushed those little pests into that black hole we found the cult near, one way trip to oblivion," snapped Matt, looking around before gulping, the turret turning to aim at them.

"Infestation in docking bay...security IFF's deleted."

"I suggest we ponder that mystery when our lives are not currently in danger," said Rook.

"Everyone move!" called Matt, the 5 running for the hatch as the turret began to fire.

"XLR8 would really come in handy right about now," said Ben as he slammed on the Omnitrix, only to turn into Cannon Bolt.

"Eh, Cannon Bolt is probably a better choice anyways," he said before curling up into a ball and rolling.

The turret turned and fired repeatedly, the shots ricocheting off. "No it's not!" yelled Matt, a few ricochets narrowly missing him .

"Hang on guys," said Cannon Bolt before rolling towards them. He uncurled just long enough to grab them up before resuming his ball form and rolling away.

"Oh cr-" began Matt, before he was grabbed, Cannon Bolt rolling away. The turret passed the second they were gone at that.

...

Aria, sitting in the cyberworld of the mainframe sat, smirking, hearing clanks and crashes as the infestation tried to get into her main system. "Are we having trouble?" she sneered .

"You are mere data. You will be assimilated," said a voice from nowhere in particular.

"Then how come you can't get past my personal firewalls?" sneered Aria, mentally changing the firewall codes for the umpteenth time just before they were decoded. "You mad?" she said evilly.

"Even you are not without limits," said the voice, "Eventually, you will be unable to maintain your firewalls."

"Maybe, but I deleted all my access codes the minute you locked me out of communications. How's that time wasting going?" laughed Aria .

"Your access codes are not necessary. Your captain remains aboard and we can extract his access codes once he is captured," said the voice.

"Why do you think he gave them to me? He has a memory like a sieve," said Aria smugly .

"The ship shall be ours, even if we have to fuse with every last circuit of it," said the voice.

"Good luck with that, even you don't have enough," said Aria calmly, before saying coldly, "And when the captain reaches the computer core and resets my system, you'll all be purged, something I'll enjoy."

"Then we shall make sure that you'll be taken out with us," said the voice before the cyber-attacks restarted in earnest.

...

The ship was alot spookier in Matt's opinion, without lighting...and in a few cases, without air scrubbers.

"Uh, Matt, you wouldn't have happened to put booby traps around your ship, would you?" asked Ben, trying to be careful where he stepped.

"No land mines, if that's what you mean," said Matt, walking round a corner to reveal an empty sheer corridor, before a rattling was heard. "Though I did order a few things while we were in orbit," said Matt sheepishly as a trio of familiar wheel shaped droids rolled into view.

"Why would you buy destroyer droids?" asked Rook.

"There was a clearance sale," said Matt. The droids immediately deployed, firing on the group. "Maybe not my best idea!" screamed Matt, diving for cover .

"Is the Mark III model?" asked Driba.

"No wonder there was a clearance sale on them," said Blukic, "We could take one apart with our eyes closed."

"If we could get near them when they're firing," said Driba.

"You mean the loose optic screws? I...had Techo fix that," said Matt embarrassed .

"Whatever Techo could fix, I bet Jury Rigg can break," said Ben activating the Omnitrix and changing into the right alien for once.

"Ha, ha, break, break, break!" cried Jury Rigg before heading towards one of the droids.

The droids insectoid face turned to look, before a dome of energy sprang up as it backed up, the others trying to blast the imp-like alien, only to miss repeatedly, though it was clear their shields were there to absorb friendly fire.

"We need to give Ben cover fire," said Rook before he started shooting at the droids to draw their attention.

Matt also joined in, the one of the droids turning, before its guns made a clicking noise, rotating to reveal two large muzzles. "Uh oh...move!" yelped Matt before the droid fired its rocket launchers .

They dived through a nearby doorway before the rockets exploded. "Were those launchers standard?" asked Rook.

"I dunno, I've only ever fought the mk 2's!" shouted Matt, his ears ringing .

"I thought you were not supposed to be sneaking ahead to look at future events," said Rook accusingly.

"That's 'peeking ahead' and I was just preparing for-" said Matt when another explosion drowned him out.

A mechanical whimper was heard, the duo looking to see the head of a destroyer droid fly past, more laser blasts filling the tunnel .

"Oh, looks like Ben has been able to get close enough to them," said Rook.

Ben ran back at that, carrying some components, the laser blasts following him. "Wised up, did they?" asked Matt, unable to resist .

"Need I remind you that you have access to more than one set of alien powers with me?" asked Skurd exasperatedly.

"Well do something already!" snapped Jury Rigg.

"Well, since you asked so nicely," said Skurd before forming Astrodactyl's jetpack on Jury Rigg's back.

"Just make a bigger gun, you have one of its guns," snapped Matt, firing a few shots round the corner and nearly losing his head as a result.

"Sure, no problem," said Jury Rigg before quickly reassembling the components he had into a relatively large gun. "Going up," said Jury Rigg before he rocketed upwards.

"Aw...I wanted to fire it," said Matt, before twitching .

"Hold still," said Jury Rigg as he aimed the gun before firing. However, he hadn't anticipated the kickback of the gun and sent barreling backwards after his shot.

The shot itself hit one of the droid's dead center, collapsing its shield and blowing it apart .

However, the gun itself had been knocked out of Jury Rigg's hands and was tumbling through the air. Matt dove out and grabbed the cannon, rolling and firing at the last droid, reducing it to scrap. "Oh thank goodness. You think that's gonna kill me, you little robo insects?" snapped Matt .

"That depends, you do not have any stronger robots aboard, do you?" asked Rook.

"Nah, not really. Got Dune Runner and the Constructicons off the ship with the others," said Matt.

"That's something then," said Jury Rigg .

"Let's hurry to the computer core before the ship starts going haywire," said Matt.

"You cannot escape. This ship is recompense for those you fed to the singularity," said a familiar voice at that .

Matt froze and said numbly, "It can't be."

"Oh, but it is...and I have that...chaos beast to thank," said the Regent's voice .

"I knew she left some sort of nasty surprise for us," snapped Matt.

"Oh, I was not left maliciously, that would be too expected. You forced her to flee so fast she forgot to leave me guarded," sneered the Regent .

"That sounds more in character to me," said Ben.

"Now I will supply the flagship of the Nullspace Federation 1st fleet...and it will find our queen," said the Regent .

"You think I'm going to let you take my ship while I'm still alive?" snapped Matt.

"A situation easily rectified," said the Regent.

On cue, a voice said, "Warning...life support shutdown engaged...beginning section by section decompression...estimated time to full decompression...15 minutes."

"Ok, guys, I think it's time to cut a couple of corners," said Matt.

"I do not think that reshaping your corridors will help us with this problem," said Rook.

"I mean, we start hacking into those nanochips before they kill us," snapped Matt.

"I still outnumber you. I easily took you over once before. I can do it again," said the Regent's voice .

"Like I'm gonna allow that to happen," said Matt.

"You didn't the last time," sneered the Regent as a faint buzzing, slowly getting louder, could be heard behind them .

"Uh, Ben, you got any aliens that could take care of those things?" asked Matt nervously.

Ben, who had already changed back, started hurriedly going through his aliens. "Ok, Lodestar would really come in handy right now," said Ben before pressing on the Omnitrix and turning into Water Hazard.

"Ok, I can still work with this," said Water Hazard.

He and Rook turned to see Matt fleeing down the corridor, yelling "RUN AWAY!"

"Hey, I said I got this," said Water Hazard before turning to see a large swarm of nanochips flying towards them.

"I think now's the time to exercise that better part of valor," said Skurd.

...

Aria sighed as Matt, Ben and Rook, carrying the two Galvans from the Plumbers, fled for it, a swarm in pursuit. "This is hardly filling me with hope," she said gloomily .

"Hope is an organic concept," said the Regent dismissively.

"Last time I check, you nanochips _are_ part organic," pointed out Aria.

"Not the important part," said the Regent, before another blow was sent against the firewall, causing cracks to appear. "You will not be able to protect yourself much longer," said the Regent, "You may as well be assimilated peacefully."

"You cannot stop them. The minute they arrive and reboot me...well... Also, I may have accidentally set us on a course to 31-Z that sends us through a NSF war game. I'm sure they'll love to meet you," said Aria cruelly.

"Your plan is greatly illogical," said the Regent, "Your destruction would be as assured as our own."

"I was human long before I was an AI. I know the damage you could cause with a warship like this. Also, the so-called Nullspace Federation no doubt has the weaponry to counter this ship," sneered Aria, not even turning as the firewall gave way and a digital construct of the Regent walked in .

"Your final defenses have fallen. Your assimilation begins now," said the Regent.

"I hope I'll have a positive influence on you," said Aria before the Regent stepped into her.

...

NSF sector...

An avian, wearing an armored carapace armor stood on his bridge, his home, a vast space station charged with monitoring the cryptic sector 31-Z before looking at his first officer. "Are you sure about this? The Novus Star is not anywhere in this sector," he said, in a slight Chinese accent, understandable as his form was that of a black kite .

"Admiral Lynch wouldn't lie about this and I doubt any of his crew would attempt it," said the first officer.

"Sir, we're getting a positive nanochip reading from the approaching ship. It is not answering hails," said a crewman .

"Ok then, prepare to open fire the instant that ship comes within range," said the commander.

...

The Regent cracked its neck, looking down at the physical body, the one Aria used to walk around the ship, before checking its systems. "Hmm...not too shabby," the Regent muttered to its...herself.

Of course, an organic body would be more useful in producing more nanochips, but that can wait until she's claimed the true right to rule. Besides, there were more than enough nanochips waiting at the hiveworld to be picked up.

There was suddenly a thud as the ship was forced out of hyperspace to show a half moon floating in space, surrounded by starships, that all began firing at once. "Warning...hyperspace nullifier detected...please leave affected area to re-engage," said the computer .

"I will not be stopped so close to home," snarled the Regent.

"Warning...shields failing...alteration of course required...weapon systems disabled," said the computer

"Deploy the swarm," commanded the Regent.

"Unable to comply...quarantine lockdown detected," said the computer, before a buzz was heard and Aria's voice said, "Oh, Regent. For all your intelligence, you never bother to consider hardline systems a threat...such as the bay doors. I locked it down...72 hours...have fun." before ending, clearly a recording .

"Must I do everything myself?!" snapped the Regent.

The recording continued. "Now you're no doubt wondering if you can reset the system manually. Well I ordered the spiderbots to hunker down in those rooms," it said before the Regent smashed the console angrily .

"This stupid ship is more trouble than it's worth!" snapped the Regent.

"Warning...engine failure...hyperdrive offline...temporal error 62...Novus Star detected at 30 light-year marker and approaching...estimated time to intercept...5 minutes," said the computer.

"Full steam ahead," commanded the Regent.

...

"STOP BLOWING HOLES IN MY SHIP!" snapped Matt as the Novus Star shook from another blow .

"I'm thinkin' we oughta stop foolin' around," said Blukic, "Is there a shortcut we can take?"

"Just the turbolifts but they're deathtraps," said Matt .

"What about air vents?" asked Driba.

"Worth a try. Worst up there is spiderbots and maybe Morph's old sandwich. _Don't_ ask," said Matt .

"The nanochips can't take control of the spiderbots, right?" asked Ben.

"They actively avoided them on the frigate," said Matt .

"Well, at this point, we don't got a lot to lose," said Ben.

"Ok, up we go," said Matt, opening a vent and peering in, before everyone jumped as he was dragged in.

"What the heck was that?!" yelped Ben.

Matt finally dragged himself back up, looking like he'd lost a fight with a chainsaw. "The...sandwich...let's try another vent," he moaned .

...

A little while later, the group were crawling through the air vents. Well, only Matt and Rook were crawling. Ben had turned into Grey Matter and was able to walk as easily as Blukic and Driba.

The group had seen a few spiderbots, though, to Matt's worry, the spiderbots had only paused to glare before continuing on. The second thing they came across was clusters of nanochips...well, what was left of nanochips...the spiderbots had definitely turned nasty .

"There's definitely a food chain goin' on around here," said Blukic.

"Yeah...and we're nowhere near the top. Don't bother the spiderbots," said Matt sternly, checking his wristcomp, "Ok, the computer core will be sealed, but we can get to it from corridor B-117, not far."

"And then what? Do we flush it out into space?" asked Driba.

"No, we can run a hard reset. It'll turn on all the computer's countermeasures and smoke the little bugs out...or cook them alive. At this point, I'm ok with everything," said Matt .

"And what about that intelligent woman who resides within your computer?" asked Skurd.

"She's part of the crew. She came up with this backup plan," said Matt .

"Ah, clever of her, always prepare for anything," said Skurd.

"Eh, I mostly just wing it," said Grey Matter.

"I'd never have guessed..." said Matt, kicking a cover off and leaping down...and immediately gripping his head in pain.

"What's he whinin' about?" asked Blukic.

"Maybe he's got a headache," said Driba.

"I think he is picking up a very high-pitched sound," said Rook as he wiggled a finger in his ear, "Can the rest of you not hear it?"

"Didn't think your hearing was that sharp," said Grey Matter.

"Not extremely sharp, but enough to just pick up a little of it," said Rook.

"Shoot the speakers! SHOOT EM!" yelled Matt, his form shifting to Loboan .

Rook quickly shot out all visible speakers. "Is that all of them?" he asked.

Matt whimpered. "Yeah...think that's all...I think my ears are bleeding," he said weakly, getting to his feet before glaring at the blastdoor. "Ok..." he said weakly, tapping in a keycode, only to growl as he got a negative buzz. "I...said...OPEN!" he said, letting loose a howl at the door .

The door cracked, but didn't give in. "This looks like a job for tech support," said Driba as he and Blukic went over to the door.

"Ah, here's the right wire," said Blukic before yanking one.

Nothing happened for a minute, Matt pushing the duo aside. "Let me try," he said, causing a spark and the door to slam open...outwards...into him. "Victory feels alot like losing," he croaked .

"Alright, let's get to work in restarting this computer," said Grey Matter.

"Wait..." moaned Matt, staggering in. "This place..." he started before the door slammed shut. "...is booby trapped," he moaned gloomily, the lights coming on.

Unnervingly, the nanochips had been working in the computer core, building up a metallic hive around the room. "Well, this isn't good," said Matt darkly .

"Ah, Matthew Lynch, I have been processing much data about you," said the Regent's voice. A section of the hive opened up before nanochips extended out and formed into a throne. Sitting on that throne was a woman wearing a skintight outfit with multiple pale blue circuit lines across it. But instead of the relatively featureless Elena-based face that the Regent had been using, it had Aria's head instead.

"Oh...now that just pisses me off," said Matt in a deadly calm voice .

"Your ship's AI has been able to provide us with much useful information about your crew, but her actions have limited our influence over the ship. You can give us the access codes we need voluntarily or we can re-assimilate you and take them forcefully," said the Regent, "You have no alternative option."

"That's weird. After last time I gave Chris the codes. He's on Earth," said Matt, aiming to annoy the Regent .

"Well, there's one way to verify," said the Regent before extending a metallic tentacle from the throne.

Matt glared and blasted the tentacle back, "No, nobody goes in my head except me."

"You cannot stop me," said the Regent.

"Bet I can," said Grey Matter before jumping through the gap in the hive, "Oh my, such untidy wiring. We need to fix that up."

Matt jumped back at that, dodging as many lunges by the tentacles as he could. "Hit the reset," he said, adding "But be sure to set it for-" before he was sent flying by a swipe into Rook.

"C'mon, Ben needs our help," said Blukic.

"We better be paid extra for this," said Driba as the two Galvans climbed through the nanochip hive into the wiring beneath.

The duo found Grey Matter in a mess of wiring. It seemed the Regent was more intent on getting Rook and Matt to send any drones after the trio . "Arthropods are just the worst at keeping things neat and streamlined," said Driba.

"I think it was already like that. NSC can be pretty sloppy with their workmanship," said Blukic.

"Guys, a little help here?" snapped Grey Matter.

"Looks like a standard sanitization device miniaturized," said Blukic, looking at some of the wiring, all plugged into a faintly glowing canister .

"Designed to set off an expansive EMP pulse that'll blank every computer drive onboard," said Driba.

"I'm more worried about its radioactive power source," said Skurd, "I don't handle radiation very well, makes me break out in hives."

"I don't know...ok...almost got it...there," said Grey Matter, the canister starting to beep, the beeps getting faster .

"Uh, we should be moving away quickly, shouldn't we?" asked Skurd.

The Omnitrix started making its powering-down beeping and Grey Matter said, "Yeah, I think we should."

The trio headed back for the outside, rolling out just as Ben turned back to see the Regent trying to choke Matt .

"Hey, lady, you ought to know that your landlord's about to kick you out hard," said Ben.

"Really? The radiation burst also removes everything in the core," said the Regent smugly .

"Which is why I'm asking you to put down Matt so we can leave," said Ben.

"You really think I'd acquiesce?" asked the Regent.

"I'm guessing that means 'no', but I thought I ought to give a lady an option to play nice first," said Ben before slamming on the Omnitrix, only for nothing to happen.

"It still has to recharge, remember?" pointed out Skurd.

"Fine, you get us out of here if you can," said Ben before Skurd grew Stinkfly wings and suddenly dragging Ben through the air, Blukic and Driba clinging to his legs.

The Regent turned to look at Matt before cocking her head in surprise to see Matt aiming a blaster at her, the shot sending her flying and definitely getting her to let go . "Let's get outta here," said Matt before running for the door.

The Regent got up, the blast injury healing before turning to see the hatch closing. "Hmm," she said calmly, before vanishing. A second later, the room was filled with green energy, burnt nanochips falling, "All systems rebooted...hostile parasite purge in progress," said a male voice .

...

The group stopped to catch their breath further down the hall. "So, has the crisis been completely averted now?" asked Rook.

"I probably ought to call those guys attacking us to let them know we got the ship under control," said Matt.

Another explosion was heard at that. Matt and the group ran for the bridge at that, staggering in to see it was already damaged. Matt staggered into the command seat and said in the com. "This is Novus Star...temporal fix 2-15. The infestation is cleared, cease fire," he said, the shooting not ceasing. "I repeat, the infestation is cleared, cease fire...CEASE FIRE!" he called .

"Uh, you think you might in trouble for being here at the wrong time?" asked Ben.

"It's better than death!" snapped Matt, before a voice said. "Novus Star 2-15...prepare to be boarded...any deviation from orders will result in lethal force."

"Not like we have anywhere to go," said Ben.

Matt gulped as an identical ship to the Novus Star warped in at that, a pelican already winging over.

"Oh boy, I think I'm in for a big temporal headache. And none of my crew are here to share it with me," groaned Matt.

...

Matt had managed to find some clean armor. If he had to meet himself, he'd look good. He was glad he had managed to get his stabilizer working properly. He'd rather not wolf out or go on a speed rush right now. The shuttle landed at that, Matt sighing before the hatch opened.

Matt's jaw dropped as he saw who walked through the door. By all appearances, it was Kala wearing a different uniform from NSC standards, though her hair was noticeably longer now. "Uh...Kala...nice hair," said Matt a bit numbly.

"Surprised to see you here..." said this Kala in a cold tone.

"Well, kinda had a bit of a temporal wormhole incident, you might remember that," said Matt a bit sheepishly.

"Yes...yes I do," said Kala, glaring at Matt a little.

"Oh, please tell me I'm not dead in the future," groaned Matt

"You're dead to me at the moment," growled Kala.

"Uh, that's supposed to be figurative, right?" whimpered Matt.

"Yes," said Kala, before a teenage girl next to her, in a guard uniform, said, "He doesn't know, Mom..."

"M-m-mom?" said Matt before his eyes rolled up and he fainted dead away.

"Told ya he'd faint, pay up," said Blukic.

Matt groaned at that, pushing himself to a sitting position. "I had a weird dream," he said dizzily .

"I think I recognize an old pattern," said Ben dully.

"Oh...it wasn't a dream," said Mat gloomily, looking at the duo, "Don't tell me why you hate me at the moment. I've seen enough Doctor Who to know spoilers are bad."

"For the record, it wasn't your fault. Mom's just bent out of shape about it," said the girl.

"No spoilers! LALALALALALALA!" said Matt, covering his ears and singing loudly .

Kala rolled her eyes and said, "I forgotten how immature he was at that time."

The kid said smugly, "Yeah, you always told me that's why you fell for him." Matt twitched at that .

"Well, as amusing as watching Matt having a nervous breakdown is, are we be going home at some point soon?" asked Skurd.

"Your ship should have self-repairs. I've been...ordered to make sure you get back to Earth orbit," said Kala, icily .

"So is the nanochip infestation truly over?" asked Rook.

"I'm afraid not," said Kala, "That's one of the few things I'm allowed to reveal. The Regent is still on the loose and it still has Aria. Fortunately for you, she's not on the ship anymore."

"Fine...and her tech is years behind," said Matt .

"Fortunately, yes, but the Regent is still a threat," said Kala.

"Fine, let's kill her. Not the first time Aria's been blown up," said Matt .

"Uh, wouldn't that be killing Aria too?" asked Ben.

"She's an AI. We can rebuild her. We have the technology...literally," said Matt .

"Rather dehumanizing if you ask me," said Skurd.

"Nobody asked you," said Kala bluntly.

"She chose to be a robot. She told me," said Matt .

"Besides, what self-respecting AI wouldn't have back-up files in case of such situations?" asked Kala's daughter.

"True, if we knew where she kept them..." said Matt casually .

"You'll probably find them at some point," said Ben, "Aria wouldn't have hidden those files too well or no one would be able to find them."

"Fair enough. So...Kala...I don't mind one spoiler," said Matt coyly, strolling up to her.

"Fine, what is it?" asked Kala, sounding annoyed.

"Well...what exactly did I do to make you hate me so much? This spoiler I can live with if it means I can avoid such a momentous snafu," Matt asked .

Kala frowned and said, "As tempted as I am to tell you, there could be serious temporal ramifications if I told you."

"If there was gonna be something, would some time-travelling parallel guy be showing up to tell us not to or something?" asked Matt.

"You mean Paradox," said Rook.

"I know what it could potentially cause, but no one's showing up to tell us no," said Matt. He turned back to Kala at that, "It must be something important to you, enough that you despise me. If you don't tell me, I can't fix it."

Kala sighed and said, "Fine, it this turns out to be one of those things that you can't change the outcome of anyways, it wouldn't matter if I did tell you. The reason why I'm mad at you right now is because you lost our second egg."

"That's it?" asked Ben, "Didn't you guys look in the park or wherever you last were with it?"

Matt's eyes narrowed at that. "Who took it? Maybe I'll pay them a visit?" he said darkly .

"The group who took it hasn't been formed yet in your time and trying to prevent their formation will be...difficult, even without possibly tearing open space and time," said Kala.

"I kinda guessed that. That's why I wanna know where they are right now," said Matt.

Kala raised her eyebrows and asked, "Don't you realize the ramifications of what you could be causing if you did that?"

"I just found out my sister has been replaced by a mad monster about a few months ago and is currently trapped on a world that's nearly impossible to find and I can't go to yet because of a stupid piece of terraforming glass. I don't care what continuity snarl I could cause by rescuing my son! Or daughter, whatever kind of dragonling is in that egg," said Matt.

Kala glared for a minute before her gaze softened and she took a datapad out her pocket. "Just like last time...try not to get hurt. I don't want you to have matching arms," she said calmly, passing it over .

"Uh, that can't happen because the future Matt still has both of his arms, right?" asked Matt.

"Maybe, maybe not," said Kala in a teasing tone.

"Well, at least she's not angry at you, in an active way," said Driba.

Matt looked down at the datapad and the list of names, before pointing at each one. "You're dead...and you're dead...and you're dead," he said in a cheerful voice .

"Is this Admiral Lynch's legendary sense of humor?" asked Driba.

"Either that or we oughta be whackin' him on the head with a mallet," said Blukic.

"No, but somebody messed with family. My future self is clearly not around to do this, so I'll do it...with extreme violence. Help me or get the hell out the way," said Matt madly .

"That's the Matt I married," said Kala happily.

"Don't tell me my future self has become _that_ soft," said Matt.

"Well, he gets tied up with paperwork a lot," said Kala.

"Right then, adding one little memo: visit future self and whip him back into shape," said Matt madly.

"Uh, that's a really bad idea," said Kala, "There is one rule about time travel you can't break: you can't touch your alternate self."

"Why not?" asked Matt challengingly.

"You'd both morph together into an amorphous blob before evaporating, erasing your presence in the timestream beyond your point of view," said Kala's daughter.

"Oh, the Timecop rulem" said Matt ,

"What's Timecop?" asked Kala.

"What? You haven't watched that movie?" asked Matt.

"Nobody watches that movie," said Kala's daughter.

"Ok...that's sorted then. How long till we get the ship back in orbit of Earth? If I'm gonna viciously murder these creeps, I'll need to viciously murder their backup and if I do it myself, my arms'll get tired," said Matt with bloodthirsty glee

"Yeah, we need to whack him," said Blukic, "Hand me that pipe."

"Why do you get to whack him? I want to whack him," said Driba.

"Cause I'm taller," said Blukic.

"You're not that tall," complained Driba.

A laser blast burnt a hole through the pipe at that. "No, I'm perfectly serious. I get the feeling my future self would happily do so. So I'll do it for me," snapped Matt .

"Boy, that takes me back," said Kala fondly.

"Uh, can we go home before this gets any weirder?" asked Ben.

"How could it get weirder?" asked Rook.

"If my mom makes out with my dad's past self," said Kala's daughter darkly .

"Ok, that tops it," said Ben, "Not even Morph could do worst."

"Give him time," said Kala darkly .

"I repeat my question: can we go home now?" asked Ben.

"You can. I'll be borrowing a fighter from the bay," said Matt..

"Mind if I come along?" asked Kala.

"YES!" said everyone else.

...

"So, you lost both Aria _and_ Matt?" snapped past Kala when the group eventually returned to Earth's orbit.

"Well, not quite, we lost Aria but Matt went away on his own," said Rook.

"It's kinda complicated, especially since we ran into your future self," said Ben.

"He's involved with his future self? Hasn't he seen Timecop?" snapped Techo

"What's Timecop?" asked Kala.

"What? You haven't seen that movie?" asked Chris, "It's a classic."

"No time for that. Where did he go?" asked Kala dismissively .

"Uh, off to shoot up a bunch of kidnappers," said Ben.

"Urgh...if he gets killed, I'll get Hannah to resurrect him so I can kill him again," said Kala angrily .

"Can she do that?" asked Rook.

"Well, I've tried it a few times. It's not a pretty picture. I DON'T LIKE DOING IT!" yelled Hannah.

"Fair enough...all we can do is hope he doesn't get himself killed." said Techo.

"Wait, aren't we going after him?" asked Kala.

"Matt can handle a solo mission. He spent several years on his own," said Techo.

"No...I can't just-" began Kala before a voice said "No, you can't but you will. This is our department."

"Who said that?" asked Skurd, looking around.

"Agent Tivus, DARKRIFT...and this is our concern now," said a suited anthro dragon in the doorway.

"Oh yeah? You got a warrant to prove it?" challenged Ben. Tivus turned to glare at Tennyson, before getting a humorless smirk and making a rotating badge hologram appear on his wristcomp. "Is that supposed to mean anything?" asked Ben.

"Ben, DARKRIFT has overruling authority over select events. Not even the Plumbers can intercede," said Rook.

"And we're fully authorized to remove any obstacles...including timeline specifics. Would you like to continue pushing your luck?" said Tivus with a nasty sneer .

"Uh, you realize that snuffing Matt will make a big continuity snarl, right?" pointed out Chris.

"Oh, we are not planning on 'snuffing' the would-be admiral," said Tivus, "We will simply be bringing him back...by any means necessary."

A second figure, a female Avianos, said coldly, "He'll be mindwiped for the past 2 months to stop any repeat and his future self will be penalized accordingly."

"Two months? It's gonna take you guys _that_ long to catch him?" asked Techo.

"No...we should be able to catch him within a couple of days. You mercs are just as cocky as during the war," sheered Tivus .

"Isn't dialing his memories back two months a bit severe? There are some important memories that happened recently he ought to know of," said Kala.

"No, by all rights, we ought to be wiping all of your minds and sending back you when you came from. But our current orders are to apprehend Captain Lynch," said the Avianos.

Techo glared. "That sounds like a threat to me. I think you'd better cool off a bit," he said darkly, Tivus shrugged.

"I did warn you," he said, before raising his hand and sending a firebolt into Techo's knee. Techo yelled in pain and fell to the floor as he clutched his knee. "Now, are there any others who-" started Tivus before both he and the Avianos got blown back by a hurricane wind.

"Get off this ship," commanded Hannah, her eyes blazing with demonic fury.

Tivus got up first, dusting himself off. "Sha'kir, let's go. We have a job to do," he said pointedly .

Once the DARKRIFT agents left, Hannah said, "We need to send someone after Matt."

"Like we can make him change his mind," said Chris grimly.

"I don't expect to, but we need someone to keep him from going off the rails or running into the wrong kind of trouble," said Hannah.

"We can't do anything...not with Darkrift watching us like hawks. Hate to say this but he's on his own for now. Anyway, knowing his luck, he'll find help," said Chris .

Kala sighed and said, "I just hope he gets back ok."

...

Out in the void of space, passing through a small graveyard of derelict ship, Aria's appropriated body floated listlessly. Unfortunately, Aria's mind was still not at the helm. "Well, this is certainly a setback, but nothing that can't be worked around," said the Regent. She grabbed a nearby piece of scrap metal which soon turned to nanochips in her hands. "There, there ought to be enough parts to make a working ship from this. After that, we'll need to find a world to gather resources. Someplace with plenty of silicon…"

* * *

There's another chapter. It's a short one, but it's going to be the first of several this week. We'll be wrapping up this story before the week is up. The next chapter will be featuring a couple of sneak previews of the gang's future. It'll be up tomorrow so keep an eye out for it and please review.


	12. Tales We Show Our Children

**Reticence Saga**

**The Aliens Within**

**Chapter 12: Tales We Show Our Children**

Endor, an asteroid system that used to be a mining colony but now was classed as #6 in Wretched Hives in the Milky Way. There were multiple casinos and gambling rings among the asteroid cities, mainly involved with the spaceship races that circulated the system. But it was a semi-reliable place to gather seedy information.

Matt was taking advantage of that at his very moment. It was the third day of his search for information and he'd finally lost patience. It, however, hadn't helped that his informant had tried to get his bodyguards to kill Matt, though they had expected a human, not a Loboan and were currently in several bits on the floor. "Ok...let's try once more: where is Captain Sampson and his team?" he growled .

"I told ya, I don't know nothing about him," snapped the informant.

Matt gave a toothy smile and said, "Did you know that we werewolves are very good lie detectors? We can pick up all the little signals that people give off when they're lying."  
"Y-you can?" gulped the informant before Matt snarled and the informant yelped. "Ok, ok, Sampson and his team were on world last night, were ticked that they were screwed over for a contract," he said desperately.

Matt nodded encouragingly. "Go on," he said.

"From what I heard, their contact left them holding the bag and they can't even collect on whatever it is they've got," said the informant.

"They've got something very important to me. Where are they?" he snapped .

"Th-they might still be around Endor. Don't know which rock they'd be on," said the informant nervously.

"You're lying again," said Matt casually before biting into the informant's shoulder .

"Ok! Ok! They're at the Epsilon section, Post 10!" yelped the informant.

"Thank you..." said Matt, opening his mouth again.

"Wait, I told you everything I know!" screamed the informant.

"What's your point?" said Matt, pausing.

"I told you so you wouldn't kill me!" yelped the informant, only for Matt to say "When did we make that arrangement?"

...

The asteroid cities of Endor were no place for teenagers, unless they were the runaways who were getting themselves involved with the criminal element. But the two teenage girls currently waiting Matt to leave the building he was in obviously weren't of that type. One of the girls resembled a younger version of Hannah's human form, though with bright red hair and green eyes, the other was of mixed races, brown skin, black hair with an indigo streak, and grey eyes. The two of them were wearing junior uniforms of the NSF, though the brown-skinned girl kept picking at it.

"Urgh...this thing itches," muttered the brown girl.

The other said, "Minerva, we gotta be quiet...and you can shut up too," saying the last part to her reflection in a puddle.

"Arguing with your conscience again, Blaire?" teased Minerva.

"Sear keeps telling me we'll get in trouble, but we can't help him. He's not my dad yet and he's got no idea what to expect," said Blaire.

"He's Captain Lynch, he can handle anything," said Minerva confidently.

"He's 6 years younger and he's gonna have to go through the Empire Civil War, the Cosmic Bowl, the Akati return...all that," said Blaire.

"Wait, that makes no sense. How could he be only six years younger when you're..." started Minerva.

"He's from the past. He said he'd get my baby brother back," said Blaire, glaring at Minerva, before the two ducked down as Matt walked out, wiping his mouth on his sleeve, it coming away red .

"Ew, did he just-" said Minerva.

"I'm afraid he might have," said Blaire.

The two sneaked towards the house and peered in, to see the informant tied up and glaring, a sign saying ' egg-stealing scumbag' round his neck.

Blaire and Minerva gave a sigh of relief at that. "For a second, I thought your dad ate him," said Minerva.

"Oh, he never ate anyone. Unless you count the times Morph or NegaMorph were shoved down his throat and they come back up pretty quick," said Blaire.

The informant glared at them though his gag at that, making it clear he would prefer said gag gone.

"Still we ought to go after him before he gets into more trouble," said Blaire.

"Can we draw a mustache on this guy first?" asked Minerva.

"Not now," said Blaire.

The two peered out to see Matt walking round a corner, heading for the inter-dome shuttles. "He must have a lead, just like the stories," said Minerva .

"Yeah, he has a particular process of elimination," said Blaire.

"We'd better follow then," said Minerva, strolling round the corner...and backing back up, a plasma blaster against her nose.

"I don't like having tails that aren't mine," growled Matt.

"Erm...would you accept the answer that we're fans?" said Minerva desperately .

Matt raised an eyebrow and asked, "Don't I know you from somewhere?"

"No, not yet," said Minerva.

"Ok, fine, get lost," said Matt coldly .

"You need our help, Dad," said Blaire as she came around the corner.

Matt swapped targets at that, before stopping. "Hey, you're not supposed to be here. Do your parents know you're following me?" he said scolding .

"Maybe..." said both girls shiftily.

"And no, me knowing doesn't count," added Matt .

"Well, Mom might have heard by now," said Blaire.

"So you left without permission. When did you two stow away?" said Matt in an annoyed voice .

"Uh...that's kinda hard to explain," said Minerva.

"Try me," said Matt before adding, "Or I'll call your parents."

"Well, Blaire stowed away when you left the Novus Star, then she texted me and I came over," said Minerva.

"Ok...you can stow your way right back home. This is not some field trip," snapped Matt .

"But I've always wanted to see the legendary Captain Lynch in action," said Minerva.

"Legendary?" said Matt, his ears perking up .

"Sure, you should see the holo series they made based on your adventures," said Minerva.

Blaire said "What holo-" before Minerva interrupted her.

"It's on its 7th season," she said quickly .

"Did they get the details right?" asked Matt.

"Well, I wouldn't know unless I've seen how you handle things in person," said Minerva.

Blaire said to herself, "No way he'd fall for this." before Matt said "Ok, don't see the harm."

Blaire's jaw dropped at that. "Guess you don't know your dad as well as you thought you did," said Minerva teasingly.

"Mom's right. He was an idiot." said Blaire gloomily .

"I heard that," said Matt.

...

The cantina the trio were in front of looked worse than the informants. The armed guards also confirmed it was Consortium territory. "Ok, how good at fighting are you two?" asked Matt, Blaire showing an ion blade at her hip. "Trained with the order," she said cheerfully before they both looked at Minerva .

"Well, I've trained in a lot of simulations," said Minerva, "We will be mostly fighting robots, right?"

"Nope, people, maybe with cybernetics. They'll probably try to kill us...if they're stupid," said Matt, shifting to Loboan form.

"Don't you also have a Kineceleran form?" asked Blaire.

"Yes, but the Loboan form's a lot scarier and it doesn't have an attention span of 1 minute," said Matt.

The two humans, if they were, turned to glare. "No NSF," said one of them darkly .

"I'm NSC," said Matt.

"NSC's not been active for 5 years. Get lost, mutt," said the other coldly, unshouldering what could only not be called a cannon because the guy was holding it rifle style.

Blaire cleared her throat and said in a slightly deeper voice, "Are you sure you won't reconsider?" Matt glanced at her and his eyebrows shot up. It was not surprise that Blaire had assumed an anthro dragon form. What was surprising was that her scales were a deep blue-green and her horns were of the tightly-curled shape often found on earth dragons.

The two guards took a step back. "Oh, you're with her. You can come in," said one of them .

Blaire smirked and said, "And here I thought you were gonna keep me out because I'm a minor."

"We have drinks dragons can safely drink," said the guard, ignoring Matt's glare .

"Good to hear," said Blaire as she and the other two walked inside.

The bar inside was pretty busy, looking like a night club...and a stri-  
Matt immediately covered Blaire's eyes.

"Dad!" whined Blaire.

"Don't care how far ahead in the future this is, this can't possibly be age-appropriate," said Matt as he covered Minerva's eyes.

Once the group were near the bar, Matt let them see again as there was a wall in the way. There was also a trio of anthros on a table. "There they are," he said calmly, "Captain Sampson."

"Cool, can we watch?" asked Minerva.

"This could get a bit messy. How about you watch...uh...that dartboard?" suggested Matt, pointing at the one non-offensive thing he could spot.  
The barman, who had recognized Matt at that, grabbed the 'dartboard' at that. "Sorry, it's broke," he said desperately, cursing himself for buying the hypno-board in the first place to help with performer hiring .

Matt blinked and said, "Ok, I guess you girls could watch, but try not to get involved unless you're needed."

With that, Matt got up and walked towards the trio. "Captain Sampson?" he called . One of the anthros turned around, revealing himself to be a large muscular tiger. "Oh, might have guessed. You're not an Apoplexian by any chance, are you?" asked Matt.

"No, for the last time, no and if you're here to hire us, is it to kill two Virk Empire assholes?" said Sampson angrily .

"Let me guess, the guys who set you up and left you holding the bag?" asked Matt.

"Oh, Lynch, you must be an idiot. The Virk Empire's still got a bounty on your head," said Sampson smugly .

"Virk Empire? On second thought, I'd rather not ruin the surprise. Just give me back my egg or I'll make a seamless fur coat out of you," snapped Matt.

"Really?" said Sampson smugly, pulling out a blaster. "You're not plasma proof," he said evilly .

"And you're not soundproof," said Matt as his muzzle split open.

There was a bang at that, a black goo covering Matt's mouth. "You really don't think people read history?" laughed Sampson before punching Matt hard enough to send him flying .

"Is this where we jump in and help your dad?" asked Minerva.

"Wait for it..." said Blaire.

Sampson's head spun round at that. "Blaire 777 Lynch..." he sneered, loading a new clip .

Minerva snorted and said, "Your middle name is 777?"

"No it's not, it's Mom's maiden name which _everyone_ messes up," said Blaire in an annoyed tone.

"Well, the Virk Empire's looking for a new leader..." said Sampson, aiming at the duo before a laser blast went through his head from behind, his partners turning in horror.

"Nobody messes with my kids," snarled Matt. The other two turned and began firing, only for Matt to lunge at one and sick his teeth into the merc's throat to the kids' horror .

"This isn't what I've read about," said Minerva with worry.

The third merc was backing into a corner as Matt advanced on him. "I...I surrender?" he said in a terrified voice .

"Where is my egg?" growled Matt.

"We sold it!" yelped the merc.

"YOU SOLD IT?!" snapped Matt, "To who?!"

"Some...gourmet in Sector 59..." gulped the merc .

"Gourmet...you sold my egg to some guy who was wanting to make an omelet?!" snapped Matt.

"It's just a job..." said the merc .

"It's personal to me!" snapped Matt.

"Ok...please don't...kill me," said the merc, Matt glaring before turning to the girls.

"Get back to the ship," he said, not seeing the last merc drawing a blaster .

"Dad, you should-" started Blaire.

"I said back to the ship!" snapped Matt. The merc glared, taking aim, only for Matt to shoot him without even looking. "We're finished so get to the ship or I'll damn well leave you here," snapped Matt .

"Ok, ok, let's go, Minerva," said Blaire.

...

Tivus glared at the barkeep and then at the three body bags. "And you say he seemed to know the captain?" he said calmly .

"Called him by name, seemed to know what their cargo was," said the barkeep.

"Interesting...did he say where he was going next?" said Tivus, personally annoyed, given how Matt had led him and his partner a merry dance .

"Eh, hard to hear everything that's going on in an underfunded bar," said the barkeep.

"You can tell us or I arrest you," said Tivus darkly .

"Uh, they talked about 59, some kinda food critic there," said the barkeep.

"Sector 59, thank you," said Tivus.

"So, I do get a little fee, right?" asked the barkeep.

Sha'kir reached behind the bar and pulled out the 'dartboard'. "What's this? Looks to me like a hypnotical displayer, quite illegal I might add," she said before opening the panel on the back, "Oh, and it's preset to effect female minds in particular, reducing them to what you've been putting up on the stage. Oh, we can't let this pass."

"I suddenly remembered it's a freebie," said the barkeep worriedly .

"Oh, we're not the one who's going to pay," said Sha'kir as she aimed her rifle at the barkeep. The barkeep gulped, closing his eyes before the empty bar echoed with a pulse blast sound .

"A tad excessive to use the pulse rifle," remarked Tivus.

"I know too many families who lost daughters to people who thought they could get around self-respect," said Sha'kir harshly.

"Well, hypno boards for slavery is a capital offense in some universes anyway," said Tivus with a shrug , "Anyways, our main objective is heading to Sector 59."

"Then we'd better hurry. Part of me hope he'll resist arrest," said Sha'kir smugly .

"You know we can't kill him," said Tivus sternly.

"But there is many ways to bring someone in alive," said Sha'kir .

...

The atmosphere in Matt's fighter ship was uncomfortable. Not as in the oxygen levels were too low, but the girls weren't so at ease around Matt anymore.

"I...I don't think this was a good idea," said Blaire nervously .

"I thought those tales about your dad being a psycho were exaggerations," said Minerva.

"Me too..." said Blaire with a gulp .

"But he won't go psycho on us, right?" asked Minerva.

"No...I hope," said Blaire weakly .

"I'd hate to be the guy who bought your brother," said Minerva.

"There, Sampson's ship...and we're gonna steal it," said Matt suddenly, the girls looking up to see a freighter.

"Well, he's not coming back for it," said Blaire grimly.

"Doesn't he have other crew?" asked Minerva.

"That won't stop me and we'll need a bigger ship with you two," said Matt .

"Are you at least going to let them off gently?" asked Blaire.

"No," said Matt coldly as their fighter came into docking range .

"Uh, these guys probably deserve it anyways," said Minerva unconvincingly.

"Mini, the more people he kills, the worst he's gonna get," said Blaire.

"Don't call me Mini," snapped Minerva.

"And don't talk like I can't hear you," said Matt . The fighter soon docked onto the freighter with little hassle. "Get ready, I doubt anyone's gonna roll out the welcome mat," said Matt.

The hatch into the ship opened and an icicle shot out at that, pinning Matt's arm to the wall as an anthro dragon walked into view. "That's as far as you get, murderer," said the anthro dragon coldly, as cold as the mist that was creeping into the ship.

"I'm...just dealing with...egg thieves," groaned Matt as Blaire and Minerva jumped out the ship, Blaire fumbling with her ion blade. Minerva slapped a hand on a nearby control panel, indigo sparks flying out.

The dragon looked unimpressed sending an icy wind to knock the duo off their feet, while encasing his claws in ice to sharpen them further "You girls are in a lot of trouble," said the dragon before a computer's voice saying, "Thermostat resetting, new room temperature: 99 degrees."

The dragon looked up at that before glaring at Minerva. "I don't need ice to deal with you," he snarled, readying an ion blade .

"Hey, I've got a blade too," said Blaire, getting hers going.

The dragon laughed and said, "Put that down before you poke yourself with it, little girl." Blaire glared before taking a clumsy swing at the dragon who easily parried it before pushing her back . "You're out of your league, child. I have more skill in one scale than you do in your entire body," said the dragon.

"Oh yeah?" said Blaire cockily . With that, she shifted into her anthro form.

"Fat lot of good that's going to do you," said the dragon, "You're on a spaceship. There's no earth for you to manipulate."

"I'll still be able to beat you," snapped Blaire, lunging at the dragon again . The dragon dug his foot claws into the floor to hold his ground, though Blaire was stronger than she looked. Matt watched in shock as his future daughter knocked the Khan on his back, as Matt came loose, the icicle having melted .

Blaire spat out a green tendril that bound the dragon tightly to the ground. "If you had done proper research, you'd know that earth dragons don't rely completely on dirt and stone for power," she said.

"I'll...kill you..." snapped the 'Khan' a vial falling at his feet, getting the attention of Matt.

"I know you. You were a black market gene modder," said Matt calmly .

"I thought this guy seemed phony," said Blaire, "If he was a real Virk, he'd have made sure the egg was delivered to the Empire."

"We'll kill you," snapped the luckless modder .

"There's no 'we' anymore," said Matt, "I already iced all your pals."

"No...all in here...ehehehehahahahaha!" laughed the modder, making it clear that there was certainly a we, and it was both the modder .

"Well, looks like he copied the split personality part right," said Matt.

Matt grabbed the modder and glared at him, only to sweatdrop when the modder said "Nice doggy."

"Guess his other half isn't as nasty as his normal half," said Blaire.

"Or as lucid," said Minerva.

"I took the nanite...didn't work...right...hehehehehe," giggled the modder .

"The Atlanteans were crazy about their network security, probably still are," commented Matt.

"Kept others," giggled the modder, before grabbing his ion blade and aiming a slash at Blaire.

"Alright, that's enough," snarled Matt before grabbing the modder's head and twisting it around.

Minerva jumped back at that, though Blaire was gasping weakly, the slash having got her across the chest. Matt stared for a second before looking at Minerva who seemed to be in shock. "Minerva...MINERVA, SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Minerva blinked before saying, "Where's the first aid kit? We need a first aid kit."

"This is the same class as the Skyraid, deck 2 section 5, go...NOW!" Matt snapped, tearing a sleeve off .

"Right," said Minerva before running off.

Matt took his sleeve and looked at Blaire. "Kid...hey, kid...can you hear me?" he said .

"Daddy, is that you?" asked Blaire weakly.

Matt paused for a second before saying calmly, "Yeah...yeah, I'm right here..." clicking through his wristcomp and mentally swearing when he saw that there was no medi nanite shots .

"Are you and Mom still fighting?" asked Blaire.

"I hope not. When we get your brother back, we won't be," said Matt as kindly as he could, though he felt awkward.

"Good, Mom says you're too busy these days," said Blaire.

"I shouldn't be. You be sure to get me demoted or something so I can go on adventures again," said Matt jokingly .

"I try so hard..." said Blaire weakly.

"Hey...hey, you stay awake now," Matt scolded, his nanites emotionlessly supplying her injuries .

"I try so hard...to make it up to you..." said Blaire, her eyes going distant.

Matt looked worried for a second before trying the only thing at his disposal. He let out a loud howl in her ear, causing her to go bug-eyed . "I'm ready for school," yelped Blaire.

Matt sighed with relief at that. "Oh thank God..." he whined .

Not long after that, Minerva came back and handed Matt a vial of medi nanites. "I hope this is the right stuff," she said.

Matt looked at the first vial before popping the end off to show a trio of nasty-looking needles. "Field kit, sorry, kid. This is gonna hurt," he said grimly before injecting it into the cut . Blaire gasped and Minerva looked away, not looking comforted at all. "Easy, it'll only hurt for a minute," said Matt soothingly, the cut visibly sealing up, leaving a faint white scar .

Blaire took in some deep breaths before managing to sit up. "Ok...you feeling better?" said Matt calmly, holding up two claws, "How many?"

"Two..." said Blaire weakly.

"Good, what's your full name?" asked Matt, running down the checklist for making sure the nanites weren't in the patient's brain

"Blaire Endra Lynch," said Blaire, sounding a little stronger.

"Endra...hmm...anyhow, that seems fine. Up you get," said Matt, offering a hand to help her get up. Blaire pulled herself up, though she leaned heavily on Matt. "Easy there, it takes a while for those nanites to get your blood level back up," said Matt.

"Uh, Matt, the medi nanites wasn't all I found in the medilab," said Minerva.

"Was the egg in there?" asked Matt urgently.

"No, but I think you ought to have a look," said Minerva.

"Ok, we should get Blaire there anyway," said Matt, helping Blaire along.

...

"This is Atlantean tech," said Matt darkly, looking at a crystalline injector .

"Looks to me like that guy was bootlegging Shar nanites not just for himself," said Minerva.

Matt looked at one, before pulling a PDA out a cabinet. "Says here it's genuine, though he did steal them...control nanites," he said .

"Are those the things that you, Mom, and Aunt Chloe are missing right now?" asked Blaire.

"Me and Kala, yes, not sure about Chloe, considering the one that was with us when we lost the control nanites wasn't really Chloe," said Matt, "Though I wouldn't put it past Betrayl to remove her control nanite."

Minerva carefully kept her mouth shut at that. Matt would probably be annoyed to know what had happened to Betrayl.

"Let's change the subject," said Matt, "Blaire, if it's not too destabilizing to the timeline to ask, why are you an earth dragon?"

Blaire shrugged and said, "Shar nanites randomize the element of newborn Shars. Something to increase biodiversity apparently. Uncle Set threw a big fit when he heard I wasn't a plasma dragon."

"Uncle Set?" said Matt, confused .

"You know, Set, the chief plasma dragon you brought back from the past," said Blaire.

"Oh, him," said Matt darkly .

"Yeah, he got pretty mad when he heard what element I was. He was accusing Mom of infidelity and might have done something really stupid if they didn't manage to explain the randomizing part of Shar nanites," said Blaire.

"Mental note: punch Set," said Matt, annoyed before saying thoughtfully, "So this could fix my lack of dragon problem."

"Yeah, the science seems straightforward enough," said Minerva. Matt nodded, grabbing an extra vial and pocketing them both .

"What about Aunt Chloe?" asked Blaire.

Matt glared. "I'll beat Betrayl to a pulp till she gives it up," he snapped before looking at Minerva, "You, you're clearly a hacker. I spotted that virus burst. I need you to knock out the security on the bridge."

"Sure, how in particular?" asked Minerva.

"Fry every firewall on this tug. I can fix the computer when we get back to the Novus Star, always liked the sigma class freighters," said Matt .

"Wait, you're taking the ship?" asked Blaire.

"Yeah, one of the perks of being mercs," said Matt.

"That's stealing," said Minerva in a shocked voice.

"Nope, the crew's dead, its salvage," said Matt . The girls exchanged an uncomforted look. "Besides, we probably need this Shar tech more than they do and we can't let it fall into the wrong hands," said Matt.

Blaire said, "Minerva, we'll need the ship anyway. That fighter's too cramped. We had to hide in the hold."

"Getting low on gas too," commented Matt.

...

The ship was pretty easy to...well, to Minerva it was as good as lobotomizing it, frying its AI but Matt had insisted, not trusting Sampson to have put booby traps in. Still, Minerva still felt like she had killed a person. Ok, this AI was most likely not modeled after a living person, but that didn't make her feel better about frying it.

"Logs analyzed...there were three stops since cargo was last removed," said the ship's far simpler backup VI calmly. "Crap, three planets to check...and its equal chance for any one..." muttered Matt, sitting in the pilot's seat, before looking over at Minerva. "What's wrong? Reality not like the holovids?" he said accusingly, making it clear he'd not fallen for that from the beginning .

"I was really hoping for something more heroics," said Minerva bitterly.

"Heroics aren't always clean, especially if you're a mercenary," said Matt.

"You killed those people," snapped Minerva, only to lean back as Matt turned in his seat to glare.

"And you think they wouldn't have done the same? You think this is all like a show where the bad guys drop their guns at the last minute? I don't think so," he said icily, "Don't know what kind of sheltered life you had, but you're in the real world now. Villains will move to kill, with less delay than what the cartoons would have you believe. You have striker faster and hard if you want to win."

Minerva looked horrified at that before Matt said coldly, "Blaire'll know that. You think they teach knitting at the Shar-Khan order?"

"Dad, aren't you laying it on a little too thick?" asked Blaire.

"Blaire, you should be in the medical bay. You nearly got chopped in half," said Matt calmly, turning back to the controls .

"I'm fine now," said Blaire, "And it wasn't that deep."

"Still, have you actually done the training with that ion blade yet?" said Matt .

"Well, the basics," said Blaire.

"You haven't done any training. Have you? You all just followed me," snapped Matt .

"Someone needs to make sure you don't get into trouble," protested Blaire.

"Have you been paying attention? I've had control of the situation from the start," snapped Matt.

"Right, like you could have beaten that ice guy without us," snapped Blaire.

Matt shrugged. "I was gonna sonic blast him in the face till his head popped," said Matt coldly .

"You wouldn't have been able to take the ship or find that Shar tech without me," grumbled Minerva.

"No, I'd still be in the fighter and I'd find another way," snapped Matt .

The girls quieted down at that, the full realization of what they've gotten themselves into setting in. "Thought so. I can't send you back, not if what Sampson's crewmate said was right...but you are going to do _everything_ I say," snapped Matt.

Blaire twitched before snapping in a slightly different voice, "This has gone on long enough!"

"Oh, so my daughter's got an other too," said Matt, "And what would your name be?"

"Sear," said 'Blaire' proudly before a riot foam blast covered her mouth.

"That's quite enough, try anything and I'll stun you," said Matt icily . Sear made several muffled protests under her gag. "No, I'm taking it off, not even for Blaire," said Matt as he sat back down, only for to leap back up with a yelp. He looked at the pilot's seat to see that sharp crystals had grown out of it.

"Oh...how mature," said Matt, annoyed before saying, "I'm still your dad...eventually and you will do what I say. Let Blaire out." Sear just made a huffing sound. "That had better be an affirmative or I'll lock you in a quarters for the rest of the trip, young lady," snapped Matt .

Sear rolled her eyes before nodding her head. Matt nodded, taking out a can and spraying the foam, causing it to melt . Blaire coughed and gagged. "Do you have any idea how nasty that stuff tastes?" she asked.

"Better than your other trying to kill me," said Matt, Blaire twitching before Sear said, "But then I wouldn't exist."

"Yeah, but I'm not taking chances that you're too deranged or possibly suicidal to do that," said Matt.

Sear smirked before Blaire came back. "Urgh...she doesn't like you much," she said in a tired voice .

"Of course not," said Matt, unimpressed, "Ok...first stop." typing something into the nav comp.

...

Meanwhile, there were other people hot on the trail of the egg. "Look, I already told you I sold it off," said the Spheroid, "Go bug the guy who got it."

"Tough, we're here bugging you. If you do not tell us where it is then Zafira here will demonstrate to your friends what happens when a fear dragon gives someone a full blast," said the cloaked figure .

"Fear's not an element," said the Spheroid, "Not even by your primitive Earth standards."

"We're not human," said the woman, twitching before shifting to a black-scaled reptilian and screaming a red energy in the Spheroid's face . The Spheroid yelped before spitting up a lot of slime, quite a bit of it getting on the dragoness. "Urgh...I'll kill you for that!" snapped the dragoness, her partner blocking her.

"Now, now, we need him able to speak at least. Now then, tell us who you sold the egg to or we will pop you like the giant boil that you are."

H...his name's Jarret," said the Spheroid in a worried voice .

"Jarett, as in the king of the Pantophage?" snapped the dragoness.

"The same," said the Spheroid .

"You sold a Shar-Ekta egg to someone who was going to eat it?!" snapped the dragoness.

"It was good mo-" began the Spheroid before a shadow fireball vaporized him.

"That fool had no idea how valuable a treasure he had," said the Virk darkly, "As if our eggs were common enough to eat like some stupid bird's."

"We need this egg. A perfect revenge on that traitor," snapped the first one .

"Getting it back from that oafish king shouldn't be a problem," said the second Virk.

"No, we remember our Empress's teachings. We do not underestimate anything," said the first one .

"Fine, so how are we supposed to get the egg?" asked the second Virk, sounding annoyed.

"With our own talents," said the Virk evilly .

...

Fortunately, Blaire wasn't reckless enough to go gallivanting off without leaving a note for her parents. Not that it made them feel calmer about the situation she was in.

"You just let our daughter go gallivanting off?" Admiral Lynch snapped at Kala .

"I didn't notice she was gone. I thought she had went to the bathroom," snapped Kala.

"And you fell for it?" snapped Matt, his eyes glowing blue .

"I would have thought that she'd have more sense to run off and potentially endanger causality," said Kala, "But I guess she got it from you."

"No, no, you don't get to say that," snapped Matt angrily, "She was with you. It was your responsibility."

"Well, maybe if you spent more quality time with your daughter, she wouldn't want to try hanging around with your past self," snapped Kala.

"That's not fair and you know it. Mina has been asking for my help dealing with the Virk Empire remnants. I can't ask her to take a raincheck and I know you wouldn't either," said Matt .

Kala sighed and said, "I know, there just aren't enough people to delegate. The Virk can spread faster than we can."

"Yeah...Federation's got me looking for leaked Shar nanites. There was a robbery a few months ago. Look, if Blaire's with past me, she's probably safe," said Matt .

"Uh, I should probably mention that Minerva's also tagging along," said Kala.

"So?" asked Matt.

"Well, your past self might not hurt Blaire, but I don't think Minerva clears his IFF," said Kala.

"He's not a robot," said Matt with a sigh .

"You know what I mean," said Kala.

"Yeah...and I was never that bad," said Matt with a sigh .

"I rather not risk that ever happening," said Kala, "I mean, you don't remember what you did that, do you?"

No...and that's best. I got it mindwiped for a reason," said Matt .

"I suppose there are some things you shouldn't get a sneak preview of," said Kala.

"I just wish I had gotten one of this..." said Matt gloomily, his head going into his hands, adding, "I've failed before."

"Matt, it wasn't your fault," said Kala comfortingly.

"I wasn't there. I should have been there." growled Matt

"Matt, even if you could go back in time, I doubt there's anything you could have done to prevent it from happening. Fate is a stronger force than time," said Kala.

"No, they're vindictive creeps," snapped Matt .

"Wait, I'm starting to lose track. Who are we talking about again?" asked Kala.

Matt sighed and said, "You know very well that-"

There was a knock at their quarters at that, Matt turning and glaring before stomping over. "You'd think 'keep out' from a dragon would mean something," he muttered. He opened the door and a bunch of confetti flew through, accompanied by party horns. Matt groaned and said, "Not now, Morph."

"But you've been so gloomy and overworked. Everyone needs a good laugh," said Morph.

Matt got an insane grin at that. "You're right there..." he said, his good hand turning draconic and starting to glow .

"Yay, stress relief!" cheered Morph as if he wasn't the one who'd be the stress relief toy.

...

"Approaching Pantophage homeworld." said the ship's computer, waking Matt up .

"We're here to get the pants bacteria?" asked Matt drowsily.

"No, Dad, the Pantophage are the baby-eaters, remember?" pointed out Blaire.

"The ones with egg? But eggs don't need pants," said Matt sleepily .

Blaire exchanged a look with Minerva who nodded. She strode over to Matt before poking him, causing a small surge of electricity to arc out.

Matt yelped at that, jumping up. "I'm up...I'm up...no squirt bottle!" he yelped .

"Next time, I get to wake him up," said Blaire.

"So...we're here then?" said Matt, checking the scanner.

"One draconic lifesign detected...unhatched class," said the computer .

"Let's get my baby brother out of there," said Blaire.

"How do you know he's a boy?" asked Matt.

"Oh, easy, they kept the heat up long enough around him to make sure he develops as a male," said Minerva.

"That's not how it works and you know it," snapped Blaire.

"I thought that was crocodiles," said Matt to himself before the com beeped.

"Incoming transmission from local flight control," said the computer

"Should we bother listening to them?" asked Minerva.

"No choice. We need their cooperation to land," said Matt, before putting the com set on. "Hello?" he said cheekily .

"Uninvited spacecraft, you are intruding into our atmosphere. Identify yourself or be blasted out of existence," said a voice.

"Wow, they don't bat around with words here," said Minerva.

"This is...freelance freighter 216, reporting hyperdrive malfunction. Requesting permission to land and conduct repairs...no cargo," said Matt calmly .

There was a pause before the voice said, "There's going to be a fee to pay to allow you to land."

"We're more than able to pay. Note that this is a NSF vessel and standard scan restrictions apply on threat of naval response," said Matt .

"Very well, proceed," said the voice.

"Ok..." said Matt, cutting the com, "Here's the plan: we head to the palace as soon as we land, we kick the door in and I make it fatally clear that egg is part of the family."

"That's it? Don't you have some more cunning plan to get to the palace?" asked Minerva.

"What, did they tell you that I'm a master strategist that can think several moves ahead?" asked Matt.

Minerva groaned, "Maybe Dad was embarrassed to admit his boss had the strategic IQ of Morph."

"Speaking of which, who is your dad?" asked Matt, "I can't say I can place the face very well."

"Well, I suppose I might as well show you," said Minerva. Indigo electricity went over her body as it became covered in grey and indigo armor. When it finished, she looked like a hi-tech version of a Roman legionnaire with the skirt and helmet, though she had some noticeable features like a large yellow visor, a small pair of metallic crab legs extending from the back of her ankles, and six robotic tentacle arms attached to her waist.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding," muttered Matt to himself.

Minerva retracted the visor and mouthplate of her helmet and said, "I suppose the family resemblance is rather strong."

"Yeah, it is. But one thing doesn't make sense: Chip doesn't even have a gender so how could he have a daughter, let alone one that's half human?"

"I...don't think you want to hear about that yet," said Minerva.

"You're right, I don't. Let's go cause mayhem," said Matt before pausing as Blaire pushed him aside.

"I don't think this mission will be that simple. We've got competition," said Blaire as she pointed upwards.

Matt peered up to see a black arrowhead-shaped ship. "Damn...who brought the star destroyer rip-off?" he asked .

"Most likely the Virks who've been having bad luck getting your egg," said Minerva.

"Then let's make sure their bad luck keeps going," said Matt. Matt passed at that before looking at the ship again, seeing a symbol on the ship of two outstretched dragon wings. "Taleth moved up in the world then," he said .

"Yeah, you wouldn't recognize him today," said Blaire.

Matt paused, something about Blaire's tone being off, before he shrugged, "Well, they're not shooting at us yet so I suppose there's a plus there."

"Yeah, but if they're gunning for that egg, this isn't going to be a simple 'smash and grab'," said Blaire. Matt and Minerva all looked at her at that, Blaire admitting, "Bad choice of words there."

"Well, I hope you've at least been putting more effort into your elemental training than your swordsmanship," said Matt.

"Shouldn't that be swordswomanship?" asked Minerva.

"Swordsgirlship as far as I'm concerned," snapped Matt.

Blaire glared. "Mistress Mina has been teaching me," she said loftily, only to blanch as Matt said, "So, no teaching then of any use."

"But-" started Blaire.

"No buts," said Matt before turning to Minerva, "At least tell me you've got your dad's smarts."

Minerva grinned, "IQ in four digits," she said proudly .

"Not bad," said Matt before glancing at Blaire, "How wise would you say she is?"

"Not nearly as wise as her namesake," said Blaire.

"Hey!" snapped Minerva.

"Well, if there is a Virk ship there are Virk jerks probably planetside," said Matt .

"And since you only have a Loboan and Kineceleran form available right now, I don't think it'd be a good idea to fight them all," said Minerva before she stuck out her tongue at Blaire and said, "See, I am wise."

"Opinions are varied," said Matt, guiding the ship into the atmosphere, the lock-on alarm beeping and a red square appearing around the Virk destroyer as the scanners indicated the lock-on was from them. "Nothing to worry about, they're just trying to get a rise," Matt said, proved right as after a few seconds, the lock-on vanished .

"How many of Virks would be in that ship?" asked Minerva.

"Medium sized ship, about 6, plus 400 crew," said Blaire .

"That seems like an unfair advantage," said Minerva.

"Well, we're much faster," said Blaire.

Minerva pointed out the window nervously. "Also that might be putting them off," she said, pointing to a cluster of heavy duty cannons .

"Let's hope they're giving the baby-eaters more problems than us," said Blaire.

...

Jarret looked down at the two Virk. "You want me to hand over my meal?" he said coldly .

"A Shar-Ekta egg has much more value than to be eaten," snapped one of the Virks.

"That's why they're called 'rare delicacies'," said Jarett.

"I will not let some fool devour our future leader," snapped another Virk angrily.

"Well, that's how things work on my planet," said Jarett.

"I think someone needs to have a change of diet," said a Virk before a blast of fear energy hit Jarett.

The blast didn't even seem to faze Jarett who instead, looked annoyed, nodding to some of his guards . The guards immediately pointing glowing poleaxes at the Virks which started firing energy beams at the Virk who attacked. "He doesn't scare easily, I'll give him that," said the another Virk.

The other Virks however stood aside to let their luckless companion get cut down, their leader saying, "I said no violence. The egg must be recovered _unharmed_. The next one who does anything that could endanger the egg I will put down myself."

"I think you should leave. You have wasted your trip. Tonight that egg is my dinner," said Jarett, his guards aiming at the Virk.

"You do not want to make an enemy of the Virk empire," said the Virk leader coldly .

"Starting a war with the Pantophage is not wise either," said Jarett.

"Only if you were one of the weaker species," said the Virk leader, "We'll be teaching you a lesson about strength soon enough."

"No, you will not. If you do not leave orbit in 5 earth minutes, I will shoot your ship down," said Jarett calmly .

The Virk leader glared and said, "This is not over, cannibal."

"It's only cannibalism if you're the same species as your dinner," said Jarett. The Virks glared and stomped out, leaving their dead comrade behind. "Make sure they leave," said Jarett coldly.

...

"Ok...that's a big palace," said Matt, the trio looking up at the fortress Jarett called home, before the front door opened and 5 cloaked figures stomped out .

"Chances are those are the Virks, but shouldn't there be six of them?" asked Minerva.

"Must be on the ship. Let's just...hide before they see us," said Matt carefully. The girls nodded before they backed into an alley.

"I can see you," said one of the Virks at that . The girls let out involuntary squeaks at that, though Matt was able to keep his head. "Oh, relax. You may be a traitor against your kind but if we kill you we might not exist. Stupid time travel. And if we try to kill the others, we run the risk of killing you," said the Virk .

"Besides, it's not worth the trouble of killing little girls," said another Virk.

"Hey!" snapped Blaire and Minerva.

"Get lost or I'll be forced to kill you instead," said Matt darkly .

"Fair enough. We'll meet again later," said the lead Virk, "Oh, and do us a kindness. Make sure that ogre doesn't do something tasteless with our lost companion. We do try to maintain a respectful image."

"Do it yourself," snapped Matt .

"We would, but we need to move our ship," said the lead Virk. Matt glared before making a 'shoo' motion with his hands . The Virk walked off at that.

"Well, I guess we won't have to worry about them," said Minerva.

"Oh yes we will," said Blaire, "Those guys are gonna be waiting for us to leave orbit with that egg."

"And risk erasing themselves?" said Matt pointedly.

"I wouldn't let my guard down so quickly around them," said Blaire.

"Please, Taleth doesn't hire for brains. Why make competition?" said Matt cockily .

Blaire sighed and said, "Ok, let's focus on getting the egg back right now."

"Ok, let's begin. We'll try asking first," said Matt calmly, walking towards the door .

"Asking? I wouldn't assume your dad was the kind to actually ask politely," said Minerva.

"Well, how else will I get a free tour of the quickest path to the throne room for when we break in later?" said Matt, walking towards the guards. "Boys, it's your lucky day. You get to tell Jarett that his dinner's dad is here and he's pissed off," he said cheerfully .

The guards gave each other disbelieving looks before one of them said, "King Jarett does like having prank calls."

Matt raised an eyebrow before saying, "Matthew Lynch, at your service. You can open the gate..." before aiming a plasma magnum, "Or I will. Either way the doors opening...and if I fire this, it'll open any other doors behind it too...and walls, and people."

One of the guards reached over and bonked Matt over the head. "Get lost," he said as Matt staggered around.

Blaire sighed and said, "Guess I'll be opening the doors." She stamped a foot and suddenly rocks rose up from the ground and surrounded the guards. Next she made a big spiky ball of earth energy and knocked the doors open.

Matt came to his senses to see the damage before saying proudly to Minerva, "My little girl's first vandalism...I'm so proud."

"It's hardly the first time," said Blaire, though her tone made it sound like Matt wouldn't like to hear about the first time.

"I don't care, it was awesome. Step two now: menacing the villain," said Matt happily .

"That means punching everyone who gets in our way, right Dad?" asked Blaire.

"That's my girl," said Matt happily.

Minerva just facepalmed at that . "I'm starting to see what she inherited from you," she mumbled.

...

The Virks watched in an amused air. "Right on cue. Why do the heavy lifting when these fools can do it?" said one .

"The young ones suspect us though," said another Virk.

"Of course they should." said the leader approvingly , "It would be rather disappointing if Lynch's offspring didn't show some cleverness and the cyborg certainly has the breeding for higher intelligence."

"And as soon as he is out the way, we snatch them both. The cyborg will be useful after some reprogramming," said another Virk, a lightning dragon, with an evil grin .

"Perhaps, genetic experiment hybrids are harder to conform," said the leader.

"I'll keep an eye on him," said the only Virk who had not spoken, shimmering out of sight .

...

Meanwhile, Matt and Blaire were finding out they had a lot of common, such as their preferences for beating the snot out of guards.

Minerva sighed, stepping aside as another guard was sent flying on a sonic howl. "Definitely related," she muttered before wandering over to a wall terminal and sending a com request to Jarett's throne room, while turning on the camera on it so Jarett would be able to see the utter mayhem .

"Hey Jarett, you know that egg has a family and they're here to take it back. These two are just getting warmed up and it's bound to be worse for you when they find you," said Minerva, "I'd give it up before they go to town on you."

"Who is this?" snapped Jarett's voice .

"Oh, just a family friend," said Minerva.

"This egg is mine! Mine alone!" said Jarett's voice .

"If you try to keep it, you won't be able to eat it when Matt and Blaire are done with you," said Minerva.

"Oh, I think I can handle you three," sneered Jarett before the com was smashed by a thrown guard .

Minerva shrugged and said, "Tried to warn him."

Matt, holding the final guard before dropping him, said, "You can't help some people."

Blaire, in her anthro form, nodding and picking up a guard. "Which ways the throne room?" she asked sweetly . The guard pointed limply in one direction. "Thank you," said Blaire before tossing him over her shoulder.

The trio moved on to see a huge pair of double doors, Matt aiming and blasting he doors to rubble. Jarett was pretty easy to identify, being the huge red guy with horns and sharp teeth sitting on the throne. "Huh, thought those Virks were being metaphorical. This guy really is an ogre," said Matt.

Matt's gaze turned to see two scared-looking chefs around a blue egg, Matt slowly turning to aim. "Take a day off," he said, firing a shot over their heads for emphasis .

The chefs yelped before running out of the room. "How dare you interrupt my meal!" bellowed Jarett as he stood up.

Matt grinned madly at that. "Of course I dare. That's my future son right there," he said .

Jarett raised an eyebrow, "The egg's father is a wolf?"

"This form's just a temporary one. But if you want to see something closer to what I really look like," said Matt before concentrating.

After a pause, Minerva asked, "You need help activating your other form?"

"Shut up...ah, just show him a picture," snapped Matt, Minerva chuckling .

Minerva lowered her visor before projecting a holographic image. The image did resemble Matt's anthro dragon form a lot, only more muscular and having quite a few battle scars. Most noticeably were that his horns were glowing a bright blue and he had a few plasma spikes on his shoulders.

"Wow, I've been eating my veggies." said Matt in shock before pausing. "Is that a cybernetic eye? Did I blow something else off?" he snapped, peering closer .

"Uh, no, that's just your elemental form manifesting more," said Blaire, "It's not quite so even right now."

"Oh..." said Matt gloomily. He'd personally liked the idea of a cyber-eye before a cracking got his attention, everyone turning to the egg. Matt quickly rushed over to the egg, tapping his stabilizer so he'd be back in human form. The egg was wobbling now, cracks becoming more apparent on it.

"Erm...Matt?" said Blaire, nervously, raising a rock shield around her and Minerva.

"Oh, relax, Mina's egg didn't blow up and she was a purple dragon," said Matt.

"She wasn't a plasma dragon," called Minerva cheerfully, Matt pausing before turning slowly to look at the egg...which exploded in his face.

"Bullseyeeeeee…" rasped Matt before falling backwards . There was quite a bit of smoke from the explosion which drifted away to show there was quite a bit of damage to the surrounding area where the egg was. In the middle of the scorch circle was a sky blue scaled dragon hatchling, happily snoring away. Its horns were an orange color, glowing faintly with fire energy, his back spines the same color.

"Aw..." said Blaire and Minerva.

"He's so cute," said Minerva happily.

"Isn't he the sweetest thing?" asked Blaire.

"He'd better be for what I've paid for him," said Jarett, "Newborn dragon probably tastes better than dragon egg anyways."

The dragonling opened one eye at that, giving such a malevolent glare that even Matt jumped back, before it closed them again. "Jarett, I could easily blast you into next week for wanting to eat my son, but I really don't think he'd be worth eating," said Matt.

"And why is that?" snapped Jarett, before the dragonling yawned.

"I'm trying to sleep," it muttered darkly .

"Odd choice for first words," muttered Minerva.

Jarett reached down and picked up the dragonling with two fingers. "I'd normally have him prepared by my chefs, but since you scared them away, just plain will have to do," said Jarett before tossing the dragonling into his mouth.

Matt blanched at that, before a beam of plasma burnt a neat hole in Jarett's teeth, the hatchling fluttering out, and its eyes literally glowing red. "I said I'm TRYING TO SLEEP!" it yelled, blasting Jarett off his throne .

"That's my boy," said Matt proudly.

"Dad? Your voice sounds younger," said the hatchling with a yawn, Jarett staring a little numbly, his face blackened .

"It's a long story, I'll tell it on the way back," said Matt.

"Good...this place is boring...let's burn it," said the hatchling with a yawn, the trio sweatdropping. "Hey, I think I know what Draconus contributed," said Matt weakly as the hatchling went back to sleep

"Well, there has been some debate about which one of you was in control when he was-" started Blaire.

"Lalalalala, not hearing this!" yelled Matt, putting his hands over his ears.

"Yep, that's what Dad said too," said Blaire.

Minerva turned to Jarett at that. "Can we take the dragonling away now?" she asked cheerfully, Jarett nodding numbly, probably not even hearing the words .

"Ok, back to the ship now," said Matt before the dragonling landed on his head.

"Carry me," he said.

"Make m-" began Matt before the dragonling blasted his head. "I could just not do anything and remove you from existence." said Matt darkly

"No you won't," said the hatchling smugly.

"I'm still your dad's past self. OBEY ME!" snapped Matt .

The hatchling's tail smacked Matt's head and he said, "I wanna see Mom."

"We're taking you there right now," said Matt with a twitch before adding in splitter, "You little brat."

"I heard that," said the hatchling in the same language.

"Oh, this is gonna be a fun trip," said Matt before the hatchling suddenly floated into the air.

"Uh, can baby dragons levitate?" asked Minerva.

"Full grown ones can't levitate, not without using their elemental powers," said Blaire before throwing some earth shards over the hatchling. There was a yelp and a silvery dragon appeared. "A phantom dragon, one of the Empire's fun creations," muttered Blaire darkly .

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they've been trying to expand the gene pool," said Matt.

"The kid belongs to the Empire," snarled the dragon .

"I don't think so," said Matt as he leapt up at the dragon.

The dragon sneered before swiping Matt aside. "You two are coming too." he grinned at the remaining duo

"Yeah, don't think so," said Minerva as she planted her secondary legs on the ground before pushing off with them, launching her above the dragon which she grabbed with her tentacle arms. The phantom dragon immediately phased out on reflex, dropping him to drop the new dragonling, right into Blaire's arms. "Uh, how do you fight a guy who can go intangible?" asked Minerva.

"So? He can't fight us either," said Matt smugly, the phantom dragon swearing in a mute voice .

"Right, cause Dad is timeline specific and the rest of us are too valuable to harm," said Blaire.

"No...cause of this," said Matt, sticking his hand into the phantom dragons and waddling it around.

"Hey, get your filthy hand out of my organs!" snapped the phantom dragon.

"It's not filthy, I washed it 7 hours ago," said Matt.

The phantom dragon snarled before taking a slash at Matt, the blow passing through harmlessly. "See? About as harmful as Morph," said Matt.

"I am not the only Shar-Virk, the others will come after you soon," snapped the phantom dragon.

"Of course, but not before I do this," said Matt, blowing on the phantom dragon and sending him floating towards a wall . The dragon drifted until he ended up partially embedded in the wall, without any apparent way of him getting back out. "I usually don't give Ghoulwyrm any kind of credit, but he manages his intangibility so much better than you," said Matt.

"Screw you, you stupid..." began the dragon Virk before Matt covered the dragonling's ears.

"I can lip read," it said in a bored tone .

"I expected a newborn dragon to be a lot more innocent," said Minerva.

"We learn through the shell..." said the dragonling before saying, "I chose a name as well."

"What, no naming ceremony?" asked Minerva, "I thought dragons had naming ceremonies."

"We're only one third dragon," said Blaire.

"Plus I don't want a sissy name. I wanna name like Deathbringer," said the dragonling .

"No, no son of mine is being called Deathbringer unless he's earned it," said Matt.

"Oh, I'll earn it. I'll start by blowing up this place…when I feel like it," yawned the dragonling.

Matt rolled his eyes. "Congratulations, Blaire. You're the sister to a future demolitions expert," he said .

"Hopefully that's a far, far away future," groaned Blaire.

"I will be Deathbringer," called the dragonling enthusiastically .

"Not yet you won't, not until you've done something that makes you worthy of it," said Matt.

"Dad, I don't think that's the best way to discourage him," said Blaire.

"I don't think so," said a voice.

The group turned to see another anthro dragon. "Didn't think the Virks would be sending their reinforcements that quick," said Minerva.

"Agent Tivus, Darkrift," said the Virk, the phantom Virk gulping and trying to pull itself through the wall .

Matt rolled his eyes and said, "Let me guess, I'm in trouble for violating my time displacement parole."

"You're messing with the timeline. That...egg should have been dinner," said Tivus coldly .

Matt glared and said, "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right. It sounded like you said my son was not supposed to be born."

"No, _you_ shouldn't be interfering with your future," said Tivus darkly, several Darkrift troopers walking in behind him.

"Well if that meant no one else was gonna save my boy, then I'm glad I did," said Matt.

"Let me make this clear: we may not be able to kill you, but nobody else is safe," said Tivus .

"Keep my family out of this," snarled Matt.

"You don't have a choice in the matter. Someone's dying today," said Tivus.

"Oh, balancing Death's checkbooks are we? I'd hate to keep him waiting," said Matt.

"Prepare to fire, only the captain left," said Tivus, before the dragonling yawned and opened his eyes again.

"What now?" said the hatchling in a low voice.

"Not now, Daddy has to deal with the bad men who want to kill you, your sister, and Minerva," whispered Matt.

"Wait...why would the squishy humans want to kill me?" said the dragonling, getting up with a stretch

"Because nobody was supposed to be here to save you and they want to fill in the gap in fate we made," said Matt.

"Now that's just stupid. Fates aren't set," said the dragonling with a glare at Tivus, who was readying an elemental spike .

"They believe otherwise," said Matt.

The dragonling glared at them at that before at Tivus direct before he spat a plasma orb . The plasma orb left off a pretty impressive explosion, rocking the entire palace.

Matt and the others stared, seeing the DARKRIFT team out cold. "Erm...time to go," said Matt quickly, stepping over the unconscious troopers .

"Right, I think Mom will be wanting her kid back," said Blaire.

"Yeah...yeah," said Matt, petting the dragonling on the head as he went back to sleep. "Ok, you get to the ship. I'll just make sure these guys can't follow us," said Matt, glaring at Tivus.

...

Future Novus Star...

Kala stood in the hanger bay, while on the com to Commander Cole. "I'm telling you, we don't have an Agent Tivus. You honestly think we'd let a child die?" he was saying .

"So you're saying that you've allowed one of the Shar-Virk to infiltrate your organization?" asked Kala sternly.

"We have Khan, mostly those that failed the tests. There is a Tiberius in our records. You expelled him, I believe, after an incident during one of the full moon seasons," said Cole .

"Yes, I do recall him. He's probably petty enough to try and attack one of my family for revenge," said Kala.

"Well, I don't think you need to worry. A team just got to the Pantophage homeworld. We found Tiberius...minus his head in the throne room and Jarett with a class 6 mindwipe. Can't tell us who killed him," said Cole .

Kala sighed and said, "I just hope that my children won't be in such danger all of the time."

"Incoming ship...freighter matches that of Captain Sampson," said the ship's computer .

Kala glared and said, "I have half a mind to blow him to bits right now."

"Incoming transmission." said the computer before Blaire appeared.

"Mom..." she said cheerfully before holding up a blue dragonling who said in a cultured voice "This is not dignified, put me down."

Kala gave a sigh of relief and said, "I'm so glad to see that you're both ok. But Blaire, you're grounded for two weeks."

"But Moooom...look at the cute baby brother," said Blaire sadly.

The dragonling screeching, "I AM NOT CUTE! I AM YOUR FUTURE OVERLORD!"

"Well, I can already tell which side of the family had the most influence on him. At least Set will be pleased that we have a plasma hatchling," said Kala.

"Uncle Set?" said the plasma dragonling

"Yes, he'll be very eager to meet you. But if he says he's already picked out a future mate for you, I'm gonna shove a shovel down his throat," said Kala.

"Can I help?" said Matt happily before Blaire pushed him aside and said "I'm coming home on one condition."

"And what's that?" asked Kala dryly.

"Ease up on Dad. It wasn't his fault," said Blaire .

"Well, I suppose in a way he did fix this," said Kala, "I just wish Matt retained a bit of his...initiative from that time."

"You know how bogged down he is with admiral duties," said Blaire sadly, "Please don't break up," only for past matt to push into view. "You're dumpling him?"

"What?! No! What gave you that idea?" asked Kala, "I admit I was mad at you, well, future you, but I knew it wasn't his fault the egg got stolen in the first place. I might have been bitter about it for a while, but we could always make another egg."  
The dragonling poked his head in at that. "THERE WILL BE NO RIVAL TO THE DARK LORD!" he yelled before Matt pushed him back down .

"I guess Draconus really was-" started Kala.

"Lies! Lies and malicious slander!" snapped Matt.

"I wouldn't mind that," said the dragonling offscreen.

"You sure you really want him back?" asked Blaire.

"He's not coming with me," said past Matt .

"No, that would be a bad idea," said Kala.

"We could let the plasma dragons raise him," said Blaire, "At least until he's out of his megalomaniacal phase."

"But they're megalomaniacs too," said Matt .

"At least they know how to keep those hatchlings in line..." said Kala, a distant look of shock appearing on her face.  
"What?" said Matt, tapping the com on his side.  
Kala blinked before shaking her head, "Sorry, just stuck on some old memories. I would want to raise my own son, but there simply aren't enough Khan to go around."

"Would it help if the ship we've captured has a bunch of Shar nanites in its medlab?" asked Blaire.

"We can't just hand out Khan tech like candy," scolded Kala.

Matt said, "Good...I'll be keeping some and giving the rest to my Morgan."

Kala thought about it and said, "I suppose that would be consistent with the current timeline."

"Good, landing in bay two. I won't be coming out," said Matt before the line cut off .

Kala sighed and said, "So much vigor. If only I could get some of that into my Matt."

The hatch opened and Blaire ran down, the hatchling on her shoulder before hugging Kala. "Mom." she said happily, as Minerva walked down.

"Oh...past Matt said to give this to the admiral," said Minerva, tossing a bottle of kr'ta out.

Kala raised an eyebrow and asked, "You didn't tell him that kr'ta has been illegalized by this time, have you?"

"Do you care?" said Minerva with a raised eyebrow .

"Not really, I'll have to find some way to slip this into the Admiral's drink tonight," said Kala.

"Just ask him? We both know he misses the burp contests with Set," said Blaire innocently .

"Which reminds me, I'll have to invite him over so he can meet his new 'godson'," said Kala.

"You're making him godfather?" asked Blaire with shock.

"No, but he did call first dibs on our first plasma hatchling and I'm betting that he'll change his mind when he meets..."

"Deathbringer!" said Pyre excitedly.

"No," said Kala flatly.

"What about Storma-" began the hatchling before Blaire and Kala both said "No."

"If Mom and Dad named me, you get named by them too," said Blaire.

"Aw..." said the dragonling sadly before Blaire said "What about Pyre?"

"Boring," whined the dragonling.

"I think it's a fine name," said Kala, "I was thinking of using it eventually."

"But Mum, I'm not a fire dragon, I'm a plasma dragon," whined the dragonling.

"We'll you're not being the Dark Lord of All," said Kala scoldingly .

Line break

Sometime later, Matt had returned to Earth's orbit with his new freighter. Past Kala was first onboard the new vessel...to give Matt a piece of her mind.

"YOU NEARLY GOT KILLED! We got the call just after that jerk Tivus left. That he was some kinda...assassin or something for Taleth!" she snapped, hitting Matt with each word .

"I took care of him already-OW!" yelped Matt.

"Yeah, really subtle at that too!" snapped Kala .

"Hey, he was trying to smash our egg, what else would you have done?" asked Matt.

Kala paused at that before saying, "You saw him?" in a small voice .

"Yeah, real chip off the old block. Speaking of chips, I suppose I should tell you about the other surprise I found out about," said Matt.

Kala nodded. "Maybe not, I wanna hear about our future family," she said, her anger having melted at the thought of a happy future.

"I suppose we can talk about that before we have to get a mindwipe," said Matt.

Kala looked horrified before looking to see Matt aiming a gauntlet at her. "But..." she began before there was a flash.

...

Not long later, Matt and Kala were in the medbay while the remaining science team was looking over the nanites. "Hmm, replacing your control nanites ought to be straightforward," said Chip, "But in your current states, that would make your new additional forms a permanent feature."

"Ok, bottle them for later," said Matt, looking at the sleeping Kala as Chip said suspiciously "So she just passed out?"

"Yeah, I don't think her diet is balanced enough," said Matt.

Chip glared a little at that, before dropping the subject. "So, I don't suppose you're gonna be telling us about your grand adventure," said Chip dryly.

"No, not for a long while. And there is one particular part that you don't want to know about," said Matt.

Chip span at that. "Tell me," he snapped .

"Nope, trust me, you're better off not knowing. It's not that terrible, but it's definitely the type of thing you'll be wanting to wipe from your mind afterwards," said Matt.

"Tough," snapped Chip.

Matt sighed. "Ok..." he said.

...

Chip did indeed need that mindwipe...but not before deafening Matt with a scream heard across the Novus Star .

"I heard a familiar cry of distress and denial," said Draco as he walked before noticing Chip leaning against the wall in a daze, "Ah, he's heard about Minerva I guess."

"Who told you?" sighed Matt .

"Oh, she time traveled back during one of our off-duty things," said Draco.

"And you didn't tell me because..." demanded Matt.

"First off, 'time travel', second off, 'Minerva'," said Draco simply, "Besides, it was one of those self-contained history-preserving sort of time travel things."

"I told you what I'd do to people who held info back." snapped Mat

"When they hold back _relevant_ info," said Draco, "If Minerva were time-traveling, which she isn't in this case, she shows up before the trouble starts to fill people in. At least I think that's what she's supposed to be doing. And considering how easily it drives Chip off the rail, we keep quiet about it for the sake of her yet-to-be existence and his psyche. We would have told the next time she showed up, which was earlier than we expected."

Matt raised an eyebrow at Draco at that. "Little too logical..." he muttered darkly before saying, "If that's you, Minerva, violence will ensue."

"Just quoting her, a lot better than Morph would have," said Draco.

"Yeah...sure," said Matt suspiciously, walking out, before suddenly peering in .

"Let me know when you need a mindwipe," said Draco conversationally. Matt glared before walking out .

Draco shimmered before being replaced by a slightly older version of Minerva wearing more casual clothes that included a grey shirt with a yellow owl emblem on it. "Ok, smoothed that over with Matt so he'll be able to accept it when I appear next time. Better get going before I run into someone else like past me." But first she went over and kissed the top of Chip's head. "See ya later, Dad," she said before vanishing. Chip was blissfully unaware, his mind still in a recuperative daze.

Matt stomped back in a second later, holding a gasping Draco. "THERE! PROOF! WHERE IS SHE?" he snapped .

"Where's...who?" gasped Draco.

"Chip, where is your future daughter?" snapped Matt .

"The number you called is currently unavailable," said Chip in a disconnected tone. Matt glared before hitting Chip...with Draco . "Excessive wear and tear will void your warranty," said Chip distantly.

Matt glared before hitting Chip again. "Stop it," he snapped .

"You're wasting your time. Chip's post-mind bleach dazes lasts about an hour," said Draco.

Matt glared at Draco. "Did you see anyone weird?" he snapped.

"Asides from Morph rolling an oil barrel down the halls?" asked Draco.

"A what now? We haven't got oil aboard. We do have barrels of explosive DRX-9..." said Matt before the ship shook with an explosion and a blackened Morph came in.

"I win," said Morph dizzily before falling over .

"Wait, if we don't have oil, then what have the Constructicons been drinking?" asked Draco.

"I find it better not to ask," said Matt simply .

"Probably shouldn't mention that around them," said Draco.

"As long as they're happy," said Matt .

Contrinus flew in and asked, "Is Chip running yet? The Constructicons are complaining about food poisoning or something like that."

Matt glared at Chip before muttering in his receptor, "If you don't stop acting weird I'll install windows 8 on you."

"He's not faking," said Contrinus.

"You, you have healing powers, get him working again!" snapped Matt.

Contrinus sighed. "He's a cyborg. I don't think it'll work," she said before squawking as Matt grabbed her and blasted some of her healing flame at Chip, restoring him. "Well, I'll be..." said Contrinus dizzily, sitting next to the equally-dazed Draco .

"Now, any of you four weirdos have any big secrets that'll potentially be a threat to the crew?" demanded Matt.

"You mean like the time we went to Po-" started Morph.

"Port Royal!" said Draco loudly, "Boy, that was a rowdy time. Nothing to worry about from there except a considerable bar tab."

"That dimension's behind the Heartless quarantine zone line..." said Matt darkly .

"Quarantine zone?" asked Contrinus, "What does that have to do with Jamaica?"

Matt glared at that. "I think he's not listening," said Draco weakly .

"I think I got some photos," said Morph before pulling out a bunch, "Look, there we are in Port Royal, Kingston, and our battle with the Deep Ones who slipped out of the Bermuda Triangle. Oh, and here we are with Twi-" before Draco suddenly seemed to sneeze a fireball at Morph and the pictures, something Matt found weird given he usually had good control of himself.

"Alright, anything that I _need_ to know?" asked Matt.

"Draco's been raiding the meat locker," said Morph.

"You little snitch," growled Draco.

"DRACO!" roared Matt, shifting to Loboan form. His current...problem had made him very protective of the steak supplies.

"If anyone needs me, I'll be under a large ice bag," groaned Chip as he walked out. He tried to ignore the sounds of Matt mauling Draco. He had a bad enough headache already.

* * *

Well, that was a very interesting chapter which contained quite a lot of interesting previews, particularly Matt and Chip's future daughters. (Don't ask how Minerva could be Chip's daughter.) Minerva has also appeared in my deviantART story, though that Minerva is actually from a year further in the future than the Minerva featured here. Incidentally, she's the one who paid Chip a brief visit at the end. Anyhow, we also saw a little bit of Jarett of the Pantophage, whom we can easily remember from Rath's debut episode. Anyways, there will be another chapter tomorrow so keep an eye out for it and please review.

Edit: Due to some schedule conflicts, the last two chapters will be delayed for a while, but they should be out by the start of next week at the most.


	13. Wolf in the Henhouse

**Reticence Saga**

**The Aliens Within**

**Chapter 13: Wolf in the Henhouse**

Most people who try to steal from NSC mercs are either suicidal overconfident or are sadly (often badly) misinformed. But on rare occasion, a thief might actually be that good, especially if the prize was worth it.

Elena considered this as she peered down from a vent into a tech lab, several nasty-looking droids surrounding a containment canister. "Robots, they never consider that somebody would be good at dealing with robots," she said to herself.

The droids looked around before Elena pressed a button on a controller, the ship shaking with a harmless explosion from the next sector, the droids looking at one another before walking out. "Bingo," said Elena to herself . Of course, she could have easily hacked those droids if she wanted to, but she didn't want to tip her hand just yet. The less people knew about her powers, the more of an advantage she could make of them.

The room underneath was surprisingly dark, with little in the way of security. "Ok, this is easy...too easy," muttered Elena's common sense. She would have expected the mercenaries to put up a bigger defense for a container of extremely valuable Shar nanites. It was a wonder another thief hadn't gotten to it before her.

Elena looked both ways before reaching for the canister...which clamped over her hand like a glove and shocked her repeatedly.

...

Elena sat up with a jolt. She looked around to see she was in a cell. She sighed and said, "Great, not again."

"Oh, yes again. You're under arrest," said a trooper in a NSF uniform.

Elena glared and said, "You're not gonna keep me here long."

"Oh, I think we are. We have a nice cell on Kryos reserved for you, Miss Validus," said the agent smugly .

"I'll break out long before I get there," said Elena as her face became blue and metallic and her eyes white. A spray of what looked like metal dust streamed from her palms.

The agent didn't look impressed, pressing a button and causing said covering to vanish. "EM field, we placed you next to the EM Drive. Have fun," he sneered .

Elena glared and said, "I don't rely on just my powers. My skills have gotten me out of tighter-"

"Blah, blah, blah, lost interest," said the agent before walking off.

Elena glared as the agent opened the door, before pausing, an officer in an admiral's uniform standing there. "Miss Elena Validus, I've heard quite a lot about you and I'm sure you know who I am," said the officer.

"Some guy who's doing a bad impersonation of Admiral Lynch," said Elena flatly.

"Of course I'm Admiral Lynch," snapped the officer.

"Yeah right, everyone knows that Admiral Lynch has a cyber-eye," said Elena.

The agent seemed to perk up at that, trying to draw his blaster, only for some...thing to emerge from his shadow and punch him out. "Took your time, Nega," said the fake admiral .

"I just wanted to see her reaction to your act first," said NegaMorph, "I was pretty certain she wouldn't buy it but I would have it'd been your acting that gave you away."

'Matt' turned to look at Elena, "Here's your choice: be the NSF's prisoner or be a consultant for my crew. Choice is open for 30 seconds."

Elena glanced at NegaMorph and asked, "This guy's the real deal, right?"

NegaMorph raised an eyebrow. "He tends to keep his deals, unless you try to stab him in the back ."

"I was talking about you, but I needed to know about him too," said Elena.

"Captain Lynch, I'm the more fun past version. We need your brain," said Matt .

"And that's the real NegaMorph?" asked Elena.

"Unless my trademark's expired, not counting my future self of course," said NegaMorph.

Elena seemed rather worried though, Matt glaring. "15 seconds then we leave you to the NSF," he snapped .

"Fine, I'll go, but if you show one sign of a double-cross, I'm gone," said Elena.

"If I was gonna double-cross you, I'd have shot you already," said Matt, aiming a blaster and blowing the lock, before tossing a teleporter bracelet in. "It's a one use before you get funny ideas of assimilating it," said Matt, adding "And I have the trigger." before pressing a button.

...

In a flash, the three of them were on a completely different ship. Elena shuddered as a few nanochips that were killed by the teleportation fell off of her.

An anthro wolfman aimed a rifle in her ear, the complaints of her nanochips confirming the EM payload inside it. "Hi, I'm Chris Anderson. Try anything and I cook you like popcorn," the wolfman said coldly .

"NegaMorph, keep a close eye on her, I don't want her taking so much as a spare coffee mug," said Matt.

"So...what do you need my help with?" said Elena calmly.

"We hear that you're the best in the exclusive business of sniffing out particular forms of nanotechnology," said Matt, "There's been a certain device that we've been trying to reclaim for quite some time and we need a new approach."

"Oh? What's it worth?" said Elena smoothly before jumping as Matt shifted into a Loboan.

"Me...not biting you for a start," he snapped .

"Incidentally, that's what that particular device did to him," said Chris.

"Ouch...so...you're saying some sort of nanotech did that?" said Elena, peering closely at Matt .

"No, I just got into a squabble with Chris and he bit me in the heat of the moment. I'm just lucky to have gotten the four-hinged jaws," said Matt sarcastically.

"Oh, sarcasm's really gonna work well," sneered Elena .

"If sarcasm was a miracle cure, I'd still have my old arm," grumbled Matt.

"Fine. My terms then: I want a ship for a start," Elena said .

"What?!" snapped Matt.

"You'll get a one-seater at best," said NegaMorph.

"No deal," said Elena calmly before yelping as Matt picked her up.

"I'm sorry?" he snarled

"You're in a poor position to haggle," said NegaMorph casually.

Elena managed, "Ok...what do you...need to...find?"

"An enchanted mirror," said Chris.

Elena raised an eyebrow and said, "Is this a joke?"

"Nope, it really is a mirror, or something close like it. We're not certain if actual magi energy is involved," said Chris.

"Simple enough. Do you have a rough idea where it is?" said Elena .

"Well, we've been trying to keep up with the guy who has it, but things have slowed down since our ship's AI has gone MIA," said Matt.

"Oh, you mean the new Regent?" said Elena.

"How did you know that?" demanded Matt.

"How could I _not_ know that? The nanochips are whispering to me every day and I have to spend half my time blocking them out," said Elena.

"Then you know where we're going. Vira, set a course for Poultron, full speed," said Matt, speaking into an intercom.

"Ai, captain," said a female voice before Elena could feel the ship accelerating.

"Poultron, the Avesapien homeworld?" asked Elena, "What's so important over there?"

"We tracked the target to that planet. He hasn't left, that we're sure of. We can't find him personally, but his mirror device should stand out like a lighthouse to you," said Matt .

"And what do you intend to do when you find it? Break it?" asked Elena.

"No, I intend to use it to turn me back, _then_ smash it," said Matt .

"Ahem," said Kala behind.

"Oh, and use it to turn Kala back," added Matt.

"Ahem," said Kala again.

"Fine, we'll change Kai back too," said Matt, sounding more than a little annoyed.

...

Poultron, to the Archon was not a pleasant planet. As a revenite he wasn't a big fan of avians. They'd been the first to attack before the Combine and NSC had attacked and now he was on a world full of them, looking for the source of a military emergency beacon. Still at least this race was considerable inferior to the Avianos, not having wings at all and were apparently more prone to birdlike instinct.

"Beacon confirmed...revenant class dreadnought," said his wrist computer.

"Well, about time we had some good luck," he muttered .

The Combine and NSC had done a rather thorough job of wiping out all traces of the revenites. The Archon had started to expect that those uplifted insects were the only things remaining asides from the mirror.

"Scanning...location found...planetary capitol. Warning...launching dreadnought will most likely result in capitols destruction," said the computer

"These flightless foul have had enough time to rule their little world," said the Archon, "I will be taking back what belongs to the revenites."

"Then you will be pleased to know that I have also detected that 62% of the crew are alive and in stasis, minus their command officers. You are the ranking commander," said the computer

The Archon gave a sigh of relief, "I am not the last of my kind then."

"Confirmed...however 134 revenites is not a sustainable gene pool. The mirror will need deployment," said the computer .

"So it will," said the Archon, "I could do better than to make these birds into revenites, but I could do worse."

"Warning...NSC vessel detected in planetary approach. ERROR: No NSC lifesigns on board approaching vessel," said the computer

"A plague ship?" asked the Archon.

"Negative...lifesigns are detected...all Loboan...one match possibility. Cult of Fenris," said the computer .

"Hmm...that sounds familiar," muttered the Archon.

"Hostile Loboan cult...slated for elimination," said the computer .

"Right, those, well, even if they got a hold of an NSC ship, they shall be easy to deal with once the dreadnought is up," said the Archon.

"Warning...starship is requesting landing clearance," said the computer warningly .

The Archon frowned before saying, "If the Loboans or Avesapiens learn about the dreadnought too soon, it could jeopardize everything. We must be more covert until we're ready to raise up the ship."

"Confirmed," said the computer calmly, "Plotting most suitable landing zone."

...

The Skyraid 3 soon exited from hyperspace and appeared in orbit over Poultron. Elena cringed and said, "Yeah, that mirror thing you're looking for is definitely here somewhere."

"Good, pinpoint it," said Matt coldly. He had been, less than friendly throughout the trip .

"Well, it's not gonna be easy with all the various signals to sort through," said Elena.

"Then you'd better get started," said Matt.

"Uh, Matt, I think there's something you ought to look at," said Techo as he looked at a monitor.

Matt looked up. "Like wha..." he said, pausing as he saw the familiar frigate hanging in orbit. "It's those gits." he snarled .

"Matt, calm down, losing your temper now is not gonna get your ship back," said Kala.

"It will if I go aboard and kill em all," growled Matt mindlessly .

"Matt, stop it, you're acting feral," snapped Kala.

Matt glared before calming down. "Yeah, that ship's not going anywhere. Chris, call flight control and get us clearance."

"Patching through," said Chris as he worked at a computer.

There was silence for a second before a voice said "Poultron...who is this?" rather rudely

"This is the NSC Skyraid 3 requesting permission to land," said Chris.

"There isn't any NSC. What's your next line?" said the voice with a chicken-like chuckle .

Chris sighed and said, "Ok, NSF Skyraid 3, the paperwork's behind on getting the name updated."

"Fine, land at beacon 2, no weapons allowed," said the voice

Matt glared and grumbled, "Stupid overgrown chickens."

"Trust me, by the time we leave, they'll be super sorry about being rude," said Techo.

Matt grinned. "Roast chicken," he said insanely .

Kala smacked his snout and said, "No chicken."

Matt groaned at that. "But they're jerks," he muttered .

"That was just the gateway guy. You can't roast a whole species because the first one was a jerk to you," reprimanded Kala.

"Yes I can," said Matt childishly .

"Keep up that attitude and I'm not letting you go planetside," said Kala.  
Matt glared at that. "I'm the captain here and I will _not_ be spoken to that way," he snarled before yelping as Kala shifted to her own Loboan form and lifted him up...by the neck

"Who is the Alpha here?" questioned Kala, her other hand baring its claws in front of Matt's face.

"Kala!" snapped Chris, Matt gasping something about mutiny .

"I have to assert my authority every once and a while or else he's gonna keep misbehaving," said Kala.

"You're choking him to death," pointed out Techo .

Kala looked at Matt who was barely wheezing. "Oops, sorry, forgot that your neck's not as thick as it used to be," said Kala as she put Matt down.

Matt glared at that. "Just land the ship...and see if Sampson's ship has any contacts we could use."

"Think we ought to call Ben?" asked Techo.

"NO! I can handle this," growled Kala, glaring at the group .

"Yeah...not trusting you to lose control of your Loboan instincts, especially if whatshisname still has that amulet from Fenris," said Chris.

"You can talk," growled Kala .

"I'm not a Loboan," pointed out Chris.

"That amulet wasn't designed to specifically target Loboans, it affects any sentient lupine," said Hannah.

Chris glared at that "Not helping." he snapped

"Yeah, gonna call Ben about this," said Techo. He was reaching for the comm when there was a flash of light and the time cycles appeared right outside the ship.

"We came sooner than we could," said Ben's voice on the comm.

Techo twitched before dialing Plumber HQ. "Could you send Tennyson as soon as possible to avoid a paradox, thanks," he said, glaring .

"The inherit fractal nature of the time continuum allows for minor shift adjustments to-" said Rook.

"Our bikes have paradox-absorbing crumple zones," interrupted Ben.  
"I made the call already," said Techo, annoyed before saying, "Opening up the top bay, land your bikes and we'll go down together."

"We shall be with you momentarily," said Rook.

...

Matt glared at the duo. "So...what brings you aboard?" he snapped .

"Well, the call that you made and didn't make," said Ben.

"Frankly, I find his skirting around causality rather obnoxious," said Skurd.

"I find it headache-inducing," muttered Matt .

"And considering you're this close to finding the cure for my girlfriend, I thought I ought to help out as much as I can," said Ben.

"Fair enough," said Matt reluctantly .

"Not to mention that Gralen is a dangerous criminal and needs to be brought to justice," said Rook.

"Right, sure, justice," said Matt absently.

"Serious, we gotta bring him in," said Techo warningly .

"Any good reason we should even bother?" asked Matt.

"None of us know how to use the mirror safely," said Techo dully .

"Oh, like the chicken people do?" asked Matt sarcastically.

"Actually, Avesapiens have a large variety of plumage. They are not restricted to those resembling Earth barnyard fowl," said Rook.

"What I mean is, we gotta be careful," said Techo pointedly .

"Yeah, we don't want to set that mirror off and turn them all into poultrygeists," said Ben.  
The mercs of the team and Elena all turned to glare at that. Matt finally said, "No more jokes...ever." in a quiet distant voice

"Geeze, zero humor, much?" grumbled Ben.

"When we want comic relief, we send for our stress-relief dummy," said Matt.

...

The central spaceport was surprisingly busy, Matt reminded of a Avianos colony in the mixture of avian aliens walking around . Rook was not kidding when he said the Avesapiens came in a large variety of plumages. Matt saw individuals that resembled robins, parrots, toucans, ravens, magpies, cassowaries, and even a little penguin-like fellow.

More important though, almost all the guards and what he presumed were military, were birds of prey, their eyes tracking the group as they came in before two of them headed forward. "Are you the captain of the..." said one of the guards before checking a datapad, "Skyraid 3?"

"Who wants to know?" asked Matt defiantly.

"Your ship isn't registered. You have to submit to a weapon search before we allow entry to the city," said the other guard in a bored tone, though she was making the fact she had a blaster at her hip very obvious, probably to put off any trouble .

Matt shrugged and said, "Sure, if you wanna try."  
"I don't think you want to do that. You're not gonna have an easy job," said Techo.

"We will not shirk our duty," said the other guard.

Techo shrugged and said, "Your funeral."

...

2 hours later

The guards were, to Matt's impressment, not showing any obvious signs of being a few steps away from a trip to the funny farm, but the signs were there, such as twitching eyes. "Another fake nuke grenade filled with kr'ta beverage," said the male in a desperately calm voice .

"Hey, I gotta hide it somehow," said Matt.

The two guards twitched visibly at that, before checking Matt again. "Another...hey, we got this one already."

"Nah, after about 10 times, they all start to look alike," said Matt.

For the male guard, this seemed to be breaking point, though it might have been when he saw the same gun materializing in the holster held just emptied. He let out a crazed screech before going for Matt's eyes

Luckily, his fellow grabbed him. "No, Charles, we should have guessed it was a NSF mercenary. They have sick senses of humor," she snapped before glaring. "Is this business or pleasure?" she said through a gritted beak .

"It was business, but it's been a pleasure," said Matt impishly.

"Just get out of our sight!" snapped the female, pointing a talon to the far door, before saying, "If you start an incident, I'll enjoy shooting you. The NSF isn't welcome here."

Matt shrugged and said, "I shouldn't take too much time."

The guard turned to see Ben and Rook at that, as if for the first time. "As for you two, this better not be Plumber business," she snapped .

"Not directly," said Ben.

"You would not have happened to see any Loboans on this planet, would you?" asked Rook.

"What's a Loboan?" asked the guard.

Matt twitched before shifting form. "Boo," he said dully. The guards let out a screech of fear before they started shooting at Matt.

...

"...and that's when we fired, sir." said the female guard. Naturally the head of security had gotten involved, apparently able to keep his cool near a Loboan.

"That was the kind of reaction I would have expected from feline aliens," grumbled Matt, who was back in human form but looking a bit singed.

"You mean how they reacted would have been like if they were felines or they reacted if you were a feline?" asked Rook, "Because I do not think that stereotype should be that literally applicable."

"Enough. You start one more incident like this, merc, and next time I'll toss you offworld myself," snapped the commander

"Fine, we're just here to find some creep with a nanite-based mirror anyways," said Matt.

"And what does this 'creep' look like?" asked the captain.  
"He's a hemovore shapeshifter. He could drain one of you guys dry and pass for them. I've seen them do it before," said Matt .

"So you have no idea what he'd look like," said the captain dully. "He'd probably look like some nocturnal bird like an owl or something," said Matt. The captain looked blank at that. "Oh, right, you don't know that much about Earth," said Matt.

"He'll come out at night. Concentrated UV rays hurt him," said Chris in translation .

"So I'd definitely be on the lookout for owls and, uh, what other birds come out at night?" asked Matt.

"Idiots who know nothing about our planet?" said the recovered male guard .

"Keep up the insults and I'll leave you guys to the wolves. And that wasn't purely a metaphor," said Matt.

"Oh, you mean the ship in orbit. Unlike you, they went through proper channels and I see little reason to hold them up just on the say so of some gun for hire," said the commander .

"You saw those guys were werewolves and you didn't freak out?" asked Matt with a twitchy eye.

"They're not werewolves." said Ben, Rook and the commander in unison .

"Neither am I and you still attacked me!" snapped Matt.

"Enough! One more snap and you won't even leave the spaceport. Do your blood money work and get off this planet!" snapped the commander .

"Blood money...what does that even-"

"Ok, enough excitement from you, Rover," said Chris as he pushed Matt out the door, "C'mon, we have an evil mirror to find." "Well...kinda like this...they probably think mercs do anything for a paycheck, hence blood money," said Chris a little sheepishly .

"What?! Mercenaries wouldn't do...well, most mercenaries wouldn't...ok, I wouldn't do just anything," protested Matt.

"Some mercs would. Some of them are from here," said Ben grimly .

"Right, I'm gonna go back there and give that the bird the-YIP!" said Matt, the last part coming Chris grabbed Matt by the collar and yanking him towards him.

"Ok, clearly that wolf temper's not gonna be helpful today," said Chris as he started fiddling with the Unitrix.

"Oi! That's mutiny! Let go of me!" snapped Matt.

"Just a sec..." said Chris before pressing on the icon and with a green flash, Matt was in Kineceleran form.

"Not cool," said Matt darkly, before smirking evilly at Chris who still had a hold.

Chris glared. "You wouldn't dare," he snapped, Matt just saying "Meep meep." and the duo vanishing with a sonic boom, coupled with a rapidly-vanishing scream .

"I'm starting to think this mirror is not worth it," said Skurd.

"Hey, if it means curing Kai, I don't care what it takes," said Ben, "Well, we better start looking for any shady owls."

"I do not think making presumptions using stereotypes based on Earth animals is the best option," said Rook.

"Well, what else would that guy pick to change into?" asked Ben.

"E-excuse me...are you Ben Tennyson?" said a female dove Avesapien in a shy voice.

"Not now, we're in the middle of an investigation," said Ben.

"But I have some advice that might help," said the dove innocently, strolling up close to lean in, before a click and a whine was heard. "You should have remembered that the merc said 'shapeshifter'. Don't move or you'll be vaporized before that ape hand can select a form...and don't try anything smart like a voice command either," said the dove, all innocence gone, a wrist blaster now in view .

"I thought you were a guy," said Ben.

"That's the beauty of genetic cloaking. Now then, consider this a friendly warning. I have no quarrel with the Plumbers, but if you continue to follow me...well, I found this fantastic disease on the Nullspace black market called T virus. I wonder what would happen if I detonated some of it in Earth's upper atmosphere?" said the dove, really the Archon with a cold sneer .

"I'm only following you for one reason. Give me the cure for your trick mirror's nanites and you can go back to living out the rest of your pathetic endling life," said Ben.

"A revenite civilian can live for up to 900 terran years, I'll live significantly longer. I will also not hand over my life's work to some over-evolved monkey who, just because he has a piece of genetic technology, thinks he's on par with truly evolved creatures," said the Archon smugly .

"A piece of genetic technology that can kick your butt at least 8 ways to Sunday," said Ben.

"Really? You're seriously pulling that card?" sneered the Archon, before looking down and grabbing Ben's hand, which had been inching towards the Omnitrix, holding it effortlessly. "What did I say about being smart?" the Archon snarled, its disguise's face warping to grow serrated fangs .

"If you're so smart, you would have noticed the other trick up my sleeve," said Ben before Skurd belched flames at the Archon.

The Archon's head was engulfed in flames, before the flames vanished to show the burns rapidly healing. "Would you like another shot? No?" she sneered before tossing Ben back and into a wall, "Just remember, you can follow me, but know that you'll doom your planet to, if it's lucky, a sanitization fleet."

"You and what army?" challenged Ben.

"In two days, my own," sneered the Archon before shifting back to her disguise and flying off .

"No fair, Kickin Hawks can't fly!" called Ben.

"The Archon is a shapeshifter, it does not have to abide by the limits of the form it wears," said Rook.

Matt stomped back at that. "Hey...you guys ok?" he snapped .

"We have found the Archon and he was not wearing the form of an owl as you prematurely assumed," said Rook.

"Right. What did he say?" said Chris .

"He mentioned that in two days he would have an army," said Rook.

"Well, that sucks," said Matt simply .

"You don't suppose he meant Gralen and his cult, do you?" asked Ben.

"Nah, if anything, that guy would be wanting to hunt those loonies down for abusing his tech," said Matt.

"He has a point. Those fools aren't worth our time," said Chris smugly, before a voice said "Pardon?"

Chris groaned and muttered, "You've gotta be kidding me," before turning around to see Gralen. "Gralen, what are the unbelievably unlikely odds that we run into you here? Here specifically."

"More so to find wayward children," said Gralen, reaching for his amulet only to pause as the others shifted their stances.

"If you think I'm gonna be mind-whammied by that gaudy thing, you're more self-absorbed than I thought," said Matt.

Gralen gave the Kineceleran a confused look and asked, "Do I know you?"

"Oh yeah..." said Matt gloomily .

"Gralen, you are under arrest for multiple accounts which include thought crimes, spreading a dangerous contagion knowingly and willingly, and destruction of NSF property," said Rook as he aimed his Proto-Tool at the Loboan.

"Really? I did not realize that simply spreading my beliefs was against the law. I have broken no laws on this world," said Gralen smugly .

"Unless you have been given official sanctum on this world, that does not protect you from being arrested," said Rook.

"It does if I was in living record," sneered Gralen.

"Oh like the Plumbers would overlook putting out a warrant for a fossil like you," said Ben.

Gralen smirked. "Then check," he said .

"If you just give me a moment, I'll look," said Rook as he activated his Proto-Tool's computer.

"Like you don't have a criminal record. We all know what you did on the Novus Star and that space station," said Ben.

"You mean the ship that currently exists out of time and the space station where there were no credible witnesses?" asked Gralen smugly.

A look at Rook's frown confirmed that. "I'll be going now. I must spread the good word," said Gralen smugly .

"You better be doing nothing but preaching. Cause the guy who originally invented that nanite tech is here and when you find out you've been abusing it, he'll cut you down like the weed you are!" snapped Matt.

"He will learn like the rest soon enough," said Gralen sagely .

Matt laughed and said, "I'd buy tickets to see that fight."

"Whoever said he would fight me?" said Gralen.

Matt twigged at that. "He wouldn't..." he muttered before saying, "We need to find a guard."

"You didn't make a good impression with the guards, remember?" pointed out Chris.

"Fine, then we'll go straight to the top," snapped Matt, "Where's the president or chief or whoever's in charge of this city?"

"Matt, we can't threaten the local leaders just cause you had a bad time at check in," snapped Chris before Matt glared and yelled "I bet me anything that people have been doing vanishing acts since Gralen landed..."

"Has it ever occurred to you that you simply warn them without using threats or violence?" asked Rook.

"I didn't say I was going to threaten anyone," snapped Matt . The others gave him a disbelieving look. "Don't look at me like that," snapped Matt before saying, "So where's their chief tweety pie or whatever?"

Rook checked his computer and said, "The king's palace should not be far from here."

"Good," said Matt, looking at the map before shooting off at high speed

"How soon before he realizes that he won't be able to see the king without someone to speak eloquently for him?" asked Skurd.

"He's going at hyperspeed, knowing Matt...wait...is this king one of those warrior kings?" said Chris, worry coming into his voice.

...

What Matt didn't know was that the King of Poultron was not like any other Avesapien he has met yet. King Karuna had the power to send anyone around him totally mad...without even knowing it. "Ok, yeah, I'm thinking it's time for some redecorating," said the Avesapien king with an Indian accent as flamboyant as his peacock-like plumage, "I'm thinking something blue, a very pretty blue. Something to match my feathers."

"But your Highness, we already redecorated it to match your feathers," said one of his tormented advisors.

"Well, I've been studying my feathers for a very long time," said King Karuna as he looked in a hand mirror, "And I have come to the decision that it does not match my royal blue at all."

"Your majesty does realize that the glass is tinted, right?" asked the advisor, holding up another mirror.

King Karuna looked at that mirror back to the one in his hand, "Oh, so you're right. I ought to have whoever made this defective mirror plucked, tarred, and refeathered."

"You ordered a set of mirrors with different tints to see how you would look in different colors," said the advisor tiredly.

"I would have remembered that...ok, maybe I forgot," said King Karuna.

"Sire, we also have the latest complaints from the ambassadors who saw you last," said another one in the dull voice of someone who has resigned himself to a nightmare of a job years ago .

"Was it the rude one? You know I can't be bothered to remember the rude ones," said King Karuna as he gazed into the nontinted mirror.

"If you mean the ones that got angry after 5 minutes...that's all of them," said the attendant in a tired voice before everyone was blown over by something rushing in, a blur shooting past. By the time everyone got up, in the kings place was a note sayiong 'I.O.U one monarch, signed screw you' .

"Well, it looks like someone's kidnapped Karuna," said the advisor, "Somebody thinks they can get a ransom out of him."

"I guess we'll be adding another sizeable donation to the treasury," said the treasurer with satisfaction.

"Indeed, let's get some work done before he comes back," said the advisor.

A new guard said, "Wait, we're letting him be kidnapped? That's treason." before his veteran partner said "No, it's secondary income."

...

"Oh man, I bet he's a big eagle, no, a condor, no, one of those extinct giant birds that peck a guy's head off with one blow," said Chris, in full-blown worry mode.

"I do not think that is very likely," said Rook as he looked at the local extranet with his computer.

Matt appeared at that, holding a peacock with a happy expression by the collar. "This was the guy on the throne. I thought I'd better bring him here to explain the horrible danger," Matt said rapidly .

"Oh, that was so much fun. So much whooshing and speeding and do my feathers look alright? They're not all out of place, are they?" asked the peacock before he looked at himself in a hand mirror.

Matt twitched at that as his brain stalled. Techo then foolishly tried first. "You the king? Got some bad news; you got a bunch of psychotic Loboans planning to use your people as fuel for his army...or as lunch," he said, trying the blunt approach .

"Oh, that does not sound good...what's a Loboan?" asked the peacock.

Matt glared before saying, "Kala, do the honors."

Kala sighed before turning into Loboan form. "Ooh, that's a very good trick," said the peacock, "Now turn into a kitty. No, not a kitty, make it a lizard."

"This is why monarchy is becoming such a decadent form of government," said Chris dryly.

Chris tried next. "Now look, Techo's good cop, I'm bad werewolf. You need to mobilize your troops...and if I have to eat you to do that, I will. I always liked KFC," he snapped.

"Roast peacock is a delicacy on our planet," said Matt.

"Ooh, I like delicacies," said the peacock.

"_You're_ the delicacy," said Matt flatly.

"Oh, I see, hmm, I suppose I can't let myself be eaten and deprive my people of my amazingly brilliant plumage. Very well, you have King Karuna's full support for whatever you were talking about."

"Ok, let me try it another way: do you want your planet to explode?" said Matt flatly in as simple terms he could manage .

"Hmm...no, that would not be good for me," said Karuna.

"Well done, you can be taught. Now the people who are gonna do it are here on this planet," said Matt, foolishly presuming he was getting somewhere .

"Ok, and who are they?" asked Karuna.

"Loboans, led by a mad Loboan called Gralen. So dangerous the Plumbers sent their best to catch him," said Matt, pointing to Ben and Rook .

"Oh, that's nice, hello, I am King Karuna and why is that one looking freaked out?" asked Karuna. The others glanced at Ben who was pressed up against the wall, looking at Karuna nervously.

"I have...no idea. Ben, why are you freaking out? He's a moron, see?" said Matt.

"Yes, everyone loves the moron king," said Karuna, obviously not processing the meaning of 'moron'.

"I rest my case," said Matt.

"I had heard that Ben had a phobia of peacocks, but I had not seen any actual evidence until now," said Rook.

"Ben? Afraid of peacocks? How could that have happened?" asked Matt.

_Flashback_

_Ben was only 5 and a half years old when his Aunt Lily took him and Gwen to the petting zoo. "Now, you go and play with the animals," said Lily._

_"Yay!" said Ben as he headed over to pet the animals._

_"Dufus," muttered Gwen._

_"I'm gonna pet you and you and you and-" said Ben as he looked at the various goats, pigs, and chickens. He paused when saw a big peacock strutting around with its fancy plumage. "Ooh, I really want to pet you," said Ben as he headed over to the peacock. The peacock gave Ben a sharp look before letting out a shrill cry and flying at Ben. Ben screamed as the peacock started pecking at his head._

_End Flashback_

"At least that is what I heard from Gwen," said Rook.

"That's...messed up," said Matt finally, a little bit damning given his own mental health .

"I'm pretty sure there's an equally traumatic tale about the origin of your phobia about sharks," said Kala.

"Mine was due to actually being attacked by the little buggers," snapped Matt . Kala gave him a disbelieving look. "Ok, how about we psychoanalyze about your centipede phobia?" snapped Matt.

"Ok, but after her, we do me," said Karuna, "My greatest fear is not enough people loving me. No, wait, it's actually tigers. I don't like tigers. They're mean and they have nasty breath."

Matt twitched at that. "Ben, get Rath please," he said .

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say," said Ben as he dialed up his Omnitrix. But since his eyes were locked on Karuna, he didn't pay attention to what he was doing when he pressed down. As a result, he ended up with Wildmutt instead.

"Oh, a puppy, an ugly puppy, I am not that impressed," said Karuna.  
"That's just a technical difficulty," groaned Matt, Wildmutt making several grunts, probably in apology before suddenly sniffing the air. Wildmutt quickly started walking off, his nostrils flaring in and out.

"Wonder what he's sniffing for?" asked Kala.

"You've got a good sniffer, see for yourself," said Matt.

Kala glared at that before sniffing the air. "Uh oh..." she said.

"Let me guess, stray wolves?" asked Matt.

"Yeah..." said Kala darkly.

...

"So, if I join this religion thing you guys are with, I'll be what again?" asked Liam confusedly.

"A noble member of our cult," said the Loboan in front of him.

"Yeah, I haven't heard any benefits or promises or anything," said Liam, "This thing smells like a scam and I learned a lot about scams from working for Psyphon."

"Well, we can't just let you leave," said a female Loboan .

"Yep, that's the kinda thing we do too when our scam gets figured out," said Liam.

"Zelina, I can see you're hungry," said the leader, smirking at the female only for pausing as yells were heard outside.

"What's going on out there?" asked the leader before pausing and sniffing, "Do I smell Vulpimancer?"

The door was smashed down at that, the Loboans reaching for weapons before a blur caused their weapons to vanish, a second tying them up in cabling. As the Loboans struggled, a Kineceleran zipped in and said, "Hey guys, remember me? No? Doesn't matter because I'm taking down your little cult."

The remaining Loboans still standing looked at each other before lunging and hitting one another as the Kineceleran moved easily . "Wow, it is so much fun being this fast. Why haven't I used this form so much?" asked Matt as he zipped around.

"Because you've got a temper problem and this form gets on our nerves real fast," said Chris blandly.

The Loboans got up unsteadily, before one, wearing a modified NSC uniform, took aim at him.

"Hey, that looks familiar-" started Matt before the gun fired, shooting large globs of goo at the gang.

The group dived for cover, minus Matt who was covered head to tail in goo. The Loboans quickly tore free before glaring at Liam. "So, you're a stool pigeon?" one of them growled .

"What? I'm no stool pigeon," clucked Liam, "You're the guys with the loose beaks." He pointed at Loboan Kala for emphasis.

"She's not with us," growled the lead Loboan, pulling out a spare blaster before the Vulpimancer pounced at him .

"Rawk, what's Ben Tennyson doing here?!" squawked Liam.

"That is a question that can be applied to you as well, Liam," said Rook as he aimed his Proto-Tool at him.

"What? A guy can't go visit his home planet without Red Spots breathing down his neck?" asked Liam.

Chris glared at that, punching out a Loboan who lunged at him before snapping, "We know you?"

"Uh, no, haven't done anything to get NSF attention and I haven't committed any crimes on this planet yet," said Liam.

"Splendid, then by my very royal decree, I'm making you, uh, leader of spying stuff until this wolf problem is gone," said Karuna.  
Matt jumped at that. "Hey, I tied him to a lamppost outside. Who untied him?" snapped the Kineceleran, his head the only thing un-gooed .

"Oh, you forgot about my arm spurs. By the way, you'll be paying to have them refiled. They got so nastily uneven cutting through that rope," said Karuna.

"Oh, the moron can fight," said Techo scathingly before the last Loboan grabbed the king. "Ok, I'm leaving with this guy. Follow and he's lunch."

"Sorry, but I can't allow myself to be seen being kidnapped by someone so vulgar," said Karuna before he kicked the Loboan in the shins, forcing him to let go in pain. The Loboan yelped before the king turned and tweaked the Loboan somewhere on the neck, causing him to make a weird expression and keel over. "It would have been better if there was music playing, but I think all the bad guys are beaten now," said Karuna.

"This isn't the Heartless quarantine zone. We don't get a soundtrack," snapped Chris .

"Well, if Mr. Speedy Lizard grabbed my boombox, we would have had very good dance music," said Karuna.

"For God's sake…" moaned Matt as Liam said "Are you serious about the new job?"

"Well, maybe not so serious now since the bad wolves are all beaten," said Karuna.

"Not really, there's probably a few dozen more, plus their leader," said Techo on automatic before swearing.

"Ok, then I guess you'll be keeping that job then," said Karuna to Liam. Ben managed to turn back at that, a shocked look on his face. It wasn't every day you met such idiocy.

"Can someone get me out of this gunk already?" snapped Matt, "It's torture to listen to this guy." Chris turned at that and blasted the goop. Matt zipped out and said, "Finally, now, who's still conscious enough to interrogate? I feel like hurting someone."

A Loboan, who till that point had been feigning unconsciousness, yelped at that . Matt smiled wickedly before grabbing the Loboan by the tail. "Hey there, you ever been on a G-force trainer?" he asked.

"Oh no," whimpered the Loboan before Matt started spinning like a tornado .

"Ok, you're gonna tell me where Gralen is and what in particular he's up to on this planet," said Matt to his high-spun captive.

"He...he wants to increase the pack and...get food for the journey back home...also...wants the same thing...you do…" groaned the Loboan .

"He knows about the revenite here? How much does he know?" demanded Matt.

"Everything...your ship...had logs..." groaned the Loboan before his cheeks bulged .

Matt quickly tossed the Loboan away from him. With the centrifugal speed he picked up, the Loboan went flying really far. "Ooh, that looks like fun. I would want to go only if I land on something soft and bouncy," said Karuna.

"Later, we need to find Gralen. I doubt even you would...wait, you would. But I know someone who would know where he is," said Matt.

"You didn't make a good impression last time," said Chris.

"Last time I didn't have his ponce king," said Matt.

"Who you kidnapped," added Kala dully.

"He doesn't know that...neither does the king if I'm honest," said Matt .

"Uh, while you guys go use the peacock king to get through the red tape, I think I'll start looking for the Archon," said Ben.

Matt turned as Ben turned into XLR8. "No, not without us as back-" he began...but Ben and Rook were already gone. "-up," finished Matt.

"Huh, that was very rude," said Karuna.

"Oh, shut up." muttered Matt, sticking a glop of riot goo on Karuna's beak.

...

The Archon had happily managed to find some locals to work, digging a tunnel to where he knew the ships airlock was. His...well, her current disguise had helped. The only thing on his mind was the fact that it was definitely attracting attention

"I brought you something," said an Avesapien resembling a pigeon as he handed the Archon a loaf of bread.

"Uh, thank you...Feet," said the Archon a bit reluctantly.

"Actually, it's Pete," said the Avesapien.

The Archon nodded calmly, munching on the meal before jumping as something made Pete and her workers vanish in a blur before an energy net went around her . "Archon, you are under arrest for multiple accounts of hi-tech robbery," said Rook.

"And this time we do have a warrant out for you," said XLR8.

The Archon raised an eyebrow. "Really? Mr. Rook, you no doubt have access to NSF databases. Look up my race," she said in a bored tone .

"You were a race of vampiric mimics," said Rook, "A race that was thought to be purged not unlike the Vladats."

"I see you haven't bothered looking what else we can do besides shapeshifting," said the Archon.

With that, the Archon effortlessly broke the energy bindings. "Now then, it seems I will have to take you both out of the game," she said calmly, pressing a button and causing a red version of a wrist computer buffer field to appear, a spiked staff appearing.

"Ok, how about I go Humongousaur on this guy?" asked XLR8.

"Ben, I do not think this is a fight to be fooling around with," said Rook.

"Ok, fine," sighed XLR8 before hitting the Omnitrix and changing into Atomix.

"Alright, it's time we brightened up this dark and dreary place," said Atomix.

"Wrong wavelength," sneered the Archon, aiming the staff only for a blast of almost black lightning to send Atomix flying into a building .

However, Atomix soon flew back out. "Not a bad shot, but what do you think of this?" asked Atomix before Skurd covered one arm and converted it into that was like NRG's except for the blaster where the hand was. Atomix then shot nuclear blasts from both this blaster hand and his regular hand.

"Again..." yawned the Archon before vanishing in the explosion.

"Think that was a bit overkill?" asked Skurd.

"Maybe a little," said Atomix. But just then, the Archon strode out of the mushroom-shaped cloud, still alive though looking rather charred. New skin soon appeared over him until he had taken the form of an older human with greying brown hair and clothes that looked Victorian English.  
"Now I haven't worn this for a long time, back when I needed samples from earth. What did the locals call me? Ah yes...Jack," sneered the Archon, his eyes glowing a demonic red .

"You were Jack the Ripper?" asked Rook in amazement.

"Among other things, now shut up," said the Archon, sending a kinetic force blast at Rook, "Your child of a partner needs a lesson."

"And you need an extra-strong dose of sunshine," said Atomix before letting out a synthetic sunburst.

The Archon raised an eyebrow, the scorches vanishing as he said, "Points for trying, but the energy weapons developed against me are synthetic. They do not exist in nature. This will be pure strength. Tell me, child, what do you do when your normal strategies fail?"

"Uh, keeping pounding the bad guys until a weak point reveals itself?" said Atomix.

Several guards ran up at that, firing rapidly, only for the Archon to fire his weapon, the guards evaporating. "And if your enemy has no such weak point?" he said, walking forward.

"Everybody wears out at some point," said Atomix.

"The many people who tried to kill or catch me thought the same. Only that Holmes fellow ever got close," said the Archon, absorbing another blast, before saying, "You know, this energy, it's almost like blood," a similar energy orb appearing in his hand.

"Ben, might I suggest a different course," said Skurd.

"I'm already blasting him with my best shots," said Atomix.

"He said that the weapons used to beat him are synthetic, don't you have an alien that specializes in synthesizing?" asked Skurd meaningfully.

"Oh, right," said Atomix before landing and changing into Gutrot.

The Archon raised an eyebrow, "A Dogarson? You do have an extensive database. Not that it'll help you. You still need a sample of solarite...and I doubt the NSC released the recipe...from what I heard, they kept the genocide of my race a secret."

"Bet Matt has a copy of that recipe around somewhere," said Gutrot, "Besides, ya still gotta be open to a few gas attacks. Maybe some teargas will get ya goin'." With that, he expelled a cloud of green gas into the Archon's face.

The Archon walked through. "Nice tingle," he smirked, fangs becoming visible.

"Back off or I'm hitting you with some noive gas," said Gutrot before releasing another cloud.

"That definitely won't work," laughed the Archon, "That was the very first weapon the NSC tried..."

"Ok, now I gotta get nastier," said Gutrot before slapping the Omnitrix and turning into Whampire.

The Archon paused a moment in surprise and Whampire quickly spat out a Corruptra onto his forehead. "You are getting wery sleepy..." said Whampire as he activated his hypno-vision. The Archon glared, wincing as the Corruptra began to glow and smoke.

"Uh, Ben, I don't think this is a long term solution," said Skurd.

"I know, but at least it gives me enough time for something more drastic," said Whampire before pressing the Omnitrix again and turning into Ghostfreak.

"Ben, what are you doing?" asked Skurd nervously.

"Something I really didn't want to have to do," said Ghostfreak before ghosting into the Archon. The Archon twitched before opening its eyes to reveal Ghostfreak. "Man, this guy is nuts. He honestly believes that he's in the right," he said in Ben's tone of speaking .

"Ben, how strong is your power over the Archon? And where is Skurd?" asked Rook.

Skurd popped out of one of the Archon's ears and said, "This is, hands down, the nastiest experience I've ever had in sharing a host."

"He's actually fighting...I won't be able to hold him long...but I can get him to take us to that mirror," said Ghostfreak .

"I suggest we hurry before our door of opportunity closes," said Rook.

"The phrase is 'window of opportunity', dear boy" said Skurd.

"Why would it be a window?" asked Rook.

"Because you have to jump through a window, such as how we need to be springing before this living fossil resumes control," said Skurd.

"Fossil?" managed the Archon, though that was his limit for the moment .

"Let's hurry this up," said Ghostfreak.

...

Matt, meanwhile, with his team was back at the starport, about to head into the commander's office, which was surprisingly unguarded. "Anyone else get that foreboding 'something's-not-right' feeling?" asked Kala before quickly adding, "Besides King Clueless of course."

"There is another king here?" said Karuna .

"I rest my case," said Kala.

Matt knocked on the door at that. "Commander?" he asked .

When no response came, Chris said, "Ok, everyone have your gun ready."

The king walked past them at that, opening the door to show...well...the commander was certainly not going to be answering anything .

"This isn't the Archon's work, is it?" asked Kala.

"Nope, vampires are neater eaters than werewolves," said Matt.

"They aren't-" started Techo.

"I know they aren't!" snapped Matt.

The king, oblivious, said, "Urgh, I cannot believe he left his workplace such a mess...and it smells like something died in here." Nobody could bring themselves to correct him.

"Well, you think any of the wolves stuck around?" asked Techo.

"I think we did, never liked working for him anyway, did you, sister?" said a voice.

Chris's nostrils flared and said, "You two didn't do a good job of hiding your scent."

"We weren't trying to hide," sneered a female voice before two Loboans lunged at the group .

Matt zipped out and smacked one of them out of the air while Chris punched the other one in the face.

"WHERE'S YOUR BOSS?" snapped Matt at his victim .

"Do you think we could spill our guts so easily?" asked the Loboan.

"Nope, I usually have to slit open your bellies first," said Matt.

The Loboan sweated at that, "O...ok...he's downtown. He...worked out how to make our gift transferred in a gas."

"That's better. Where in downtown is he specifically?" asked Matt.

"The...the...the..." began the Loboan before starting to twitch.

"The what? C'mon, out with it," demanded Matt.

The Loboan by now was shaking before its eyes refocused and it began yelping like an animal in the grip, the other Loboan staring in horror but remaining silent .

"Ok, what's going on here?" asked Matt.

Techo ran a scan over both the Loboans. "Nanites, programmed to short out brain patterns. Nasty, I'm guessing programmed for key thought patterns, such as telling us Gralen's plan. She's got the IQ of a dog...if she's lucky," he finally said .

"That overgrown German Shepherd is no good shepherd," said Kala.

"It doesn't matter. We need to find Gralen. Call Ben. Get him to go to downtown, NOW! We need as many eyes down there as possible," said Matt .

Techo quickly dialed for Rook and asked, "Rook, is Ben with you?"

"Yes, but he's very busy right now," said Rook, "I do have some good news. We are just about to find the mirror."

"It can wait. Gralen's weaponized those nanites and he's gonna release it in the middle of the city. If the NSF's anything like home, if they get wind, they'll send a cruise to saturate this entire continent," said Techo urgently .

There was a strangled cry from the other end. "What was that?" asked Techo.

"Uh, that would be what is keeping Ben occupied," said Rook.  
"Just let him go. We can get him later. We have to stop Gralen," snapped Matt .

"That is not as simple as you are suggesting," said Rook.

"If we don't, we're going to be handing Gralen an army to invade Transyl," snapped Matt .

Then there was the sound like someone vomiting before the cool voice of the Archon said, "Tell your captain to leave this to me."

There was a sound of a Proto-Tool shot coupled with a battlescream Matt had heard once before, the line going dead. "Crap," said Matt.

"Great, now we've got _two_ lunatics with access to forbidden nanite tech to deal with," said Kala.

...

Despite the interference, the Avesapiens have dug down far enough for the Archon to proceed the rest of his way on his own, even while he was dragging Rook along.

Two workers were pulling a large crate between them. "Careful with that. It's worth far more than your lives," said the Archon calmly as the crate caught on a wall. The workers were already jumpy over what appeared to be a kidnap . "Get back to work," said the Archon sharply before dragging Rook on.

On cue. a humming began before green lighting came on. "Erm...what's that?" said one of the workers.

"It means that work is going on the right way, which is fortunate for you," said the Archon.

A third worker, holding a scanner, said, "Erm, I'm detecting lifeforms...moving towards us."

"Ah, I was wondering if I had to wake them up myself," said the Archon.

"Wake who up?" asked one of the workers nervously before a shriek was heard in the distance, the three workers pausing in terror as the cry went straight to the primal fear part of the brain .

"If you want to leave now, you might be able to get out before you become their wake-up meal," said the Archon.

The workers looked at one another before running for it, just before two armored figures aimed round the corner...revenite stormtroopers. "Identify your intent, xenos," one of them yelled .

"Archon Lo Gavian, Science consul, stand down," ordered the Archon .

The troopers kept their aim for a second before lowering them, "Archon, it is good to see someone from the consul. What is word of homeworld?" asked one of them, the other glaring down at Rook.

"As far as I have been able to determine, we are all that's left," said the Archon grimly.

"This one? It does not wear the uniform of the NSC or the confederation," asked one of the troopers, glaring at Rook.

"He is from the Plumber organization," said the Archon, "A precautionary to make sure his friends mind their own business."

The troopers nodded, one grabbing Rook. "I'll take him to the brig," he said coldly, the other looking at the Archon expectantly.

"Well, what are you staring that?" snapped the Archon, "You're supposed to be taking me to the captain!"

"The captain was killed when we crashed. You're the ranking member," said the trooper .

"Ah, that makes things more convenient," said the Archon approvingly, "Show me to the bridge."

"Yes, sir," said the trooper, not noticing the green glow in the Archon's eyes.

...

Matt would have rushed to help deal with the Archon, but since they had no way to find him right now, the group decided to deal with the problem they did know how to find.

However, trying to get the public to move was harder than it seemed, even with the king, who was now convinced it was a recording for some fictional crime holoshow...and he'd told everyone that.

"Ugh, I can't believe how stupid these guys are," snapped Matt.

"They're birdbrains. Unless we run into some corvids, we're not gonna get anyone smarter," said Techo.

Matt glared and grabbed a passing officer. "I'm telling you, someone's gonna set off a mutagen bomb in this area. We need to get these people out," he snapped .

"Right, any particular direction? Away from the cameras, right?" asked the officer.

Matt looked around before saying in a calm voice, "So...you're saying this blaster's a prop, right? That your vehicle?" nodding to the newly-arrived officer's security cruiser .

"Yep," said the officer. Matt shrugged before firing into the vehicle, sending it up like a fireball. The officer gave him a disapproving look and said, "If you're going to be using live ammo for your show, you need to tell the authorities beforehand. And you'll paying for my cruiser."

"This is not a show!" snapped Matt before wincing as his collar gave off several red sparks. Matt twitched before saying desperately, "All the more reason to get these people back. Our company is not liable for injuries for people who get too close to the pyrotechnics."

"Well, you ought to make your warnings clearer," said the officer before going off to redirect traffic.

"Chris, call out on the old CPS frequencies. If Layton's company is still around we can get some teams in to diffuse Gralen's surprise when we find it," snapped Matt, the collar still flaring .

"Uh, Matt, you might want to have that collar looked at," said Chris.

"Does it look like we have time for that?!" snapped Matt, the collar sparking even more.

Chris frowned before trying his com, only to instantly get a response, "This is DARKRIFT 2-15 responding...we understand a nanite bombs being set up in your sector...our team is en-route...30 minutes."

"Wow, that was prompt," said Kala.

"Yeah, but how do we know they're not gonna just 'sanitize' the city?" asked Techo.

"Then let's find the bomb before they get here or before Matt snaps," said Chris . Everyone gave an edgewise look at Matt's sparking collar, well, everyone except Karuna who was gazing upon his reflection in a nearby window.

A couple of owl variants walked by at that, chatting. "Easiest credits I ever made, just to move some Loboan statue."

"A Loboan statue? Really? Could he be more obvious?" asked Kala incredulously.

"Not to these birdbrains. So much for owls being wise," said Techo.

"We gotta find that statue," said Chris desperately.

"If it's the size of Gralen's ego, it shouldn't be hard to find," said Techo.

"If it was the size of Garuna's ego, _everyone_ could see it," said Kala.

Matt nodded, grabbing the owls. "You two, the statue, where, NOW!" he snapped .

"What did he say?" asked one owl.

"I think he's asking about the statue we just delivered," said the other.

Matt glared before grabbing them both by the throats and lifting them up...effortlessly. "Wheeeere…" he snarled . The two of them quickly pointed in one direction. Matt growled before bashing the two together and stalking the way they had pointed

"Er, how strong is that lock you put on his Loboan form?" asked Kala.

"He ought to be incapable of accessing it until I put in the release code," said Chris.

Techo checked his wristcomp. "Erm...I think Azmuth misjudged how good the components are. That thing's like a cork in a bottle of compressed air...and when it's gonna go..." he said weakly .

"Maybe we ought to let Matt's wolf off the leash," said Kala.

"Oh sure, let an angry wolf out among a flock of birdbrains. There'll be bloody feathers everywhere," said Techo.

"If we don't...if I'm reading these scans, the mirror nanites think they're under attack. I'm reading revenite code for 'combat form', whatever that means," said Chris worriedly, checking his own scans to see the warnings himself .

"Well, considering we're about to fight a bunch of Loboans, maybe a combat form wouldn't be that bad to have around," said Kala unconvincingly.

"Revenite combat units are programmed to kill anything they deem a threat. Meaning they'll go for whoever put that collar on them," snapped Chris angrily .

"Ok, let's unlock Matt's Loboan form," said Kala quickly.

On cue, an explosion was heard, followed by screams.

...

"What the heck was that?!" asked the Archon as the dreadnought was rocked.

"Reading a nanite bomb detonation in the settlement...central district...reading revenite weapon grade nanites as payload. Infections already reported..." said a crewman calmly, a hologram map of the city appearing, a red light filling up from a central dot as garbled screams and reports came over the speakers.

"We need to get up there and do something about it, quick," said the Archon.

"Indeed, sir. Revenite containment protocol is very clear: a void bomb onto ground zero will eradicate the infection and all infected and probables. Tactical blasts can also cripple spaceships attempting to leave orbit," said the second-in-command .

"What?! I mean, not a wise idea for our first major moves 2000 years," said the Archon, "It would be drawing too much attention to us before we're ready."

"Really? You were the one who came up with that protocol when you began the mirror experiments," said the second in command, walking towards the Archon as the rest of the bridge crew tensed up. "Still, I understand it is traumatic to see your team dead," he said, offering his hand in an apparent handshake.

"Well, yeah, I'm still reeling from the whole endling thing," said the Archon as he took the second's hand.

Instantly, an arc of red lightning flowed over the Archon, causing him to judder, before a mist flowed out of his mouth and formed into Ghostfreak, floating stunned. "Security and medics to the bridge...and double the guard on the Plumber," commanded the second.

"Ben, now's not the time to take a nap," said Skurd as he tried to rouse Ghostfreak.

"A symbiote, interesting. Addendum: get the doctor up here too. Tell him we have a suitable genetic sample for the logs. The Archon will like that when he recovers," said the second grimly, before saying, "Prepare a team...deploy that bomb."

"Er, I'm actually a slimebiote," said Skurd nervously.

"Doesn't matter," sneered the second as the Archon groaned .

"So, I don't suppose there's any chance of appealing to your compassion, is there?" asked Skurd.

"Not a chance," said the Archon nastily .

"Well, I must warn you, as long as I'm connected to the Omnitrix, I can use the powers of any alien whose DNA is stored inside it," said Skurd, "Also I'm nearly impossible to remove against my will."

"Your host still needs to be conscious though," said the Archon smugly .

"Er, sir, a new development has just popped up," said a crewman.

"What would that be?" asked the Archon.

"Well, your mirror is indicating one of your subject has entered the red zone, which I'm not certain what that means yet. And its new additions rosters is skyrocketing at a strenuous rate."

"What? The nanite bomb...get an eradicator team on the ground, NOW! Cull that new herd," snapped the Archon .

"Sir, won't we be vulnerable to the infestation?" asked the crewman.

"That is why we have armor plating and self-contained atmosphere tanks," said the Archon in a 'talking-to-morons' tone.

"Paladin, deploy your men. Sanitize ground zero and deploy a void bomb. Everyone else, prep for launch," snapped the second .

"Aye, sir," said the crewmen.

...

In the city above, there was lot of panic and confusion, which is what usually happens when a bomb goes off. But the explosion wasn't the actual threat, it's what it's spreading around.

Chris pulled himself up to see several Loboans, in clothing from some of the market place people run by, snapping at a fleeing guard . Fortunately, his helmet had reacted to the nanite pathogen and covered up his face before he could be infected. "Well isn't this just peachy," he said sarcastically.

"It's gonna get peachier," said Techo, who also had his helmet up and was looking at his comm.

"How peachy?" snapped Chris before several howls were heard .

Kala was making her way towards Matt who hadn't gotten up yet. "Matt, are you ok?" she asked. Matt let out a growl as he started picking himself up. His collar let out a shower of red sharks before his Unitrix beeped and red light swept over his body. His torso bulked up with thicker muscles as the blue of his skin turned darker. His hands grew sharp claws as a pair of sickle claws appeared on his feet. His elbow spurs grew before widening into razor-sharp fins. Matt turned towards Kala and snarled with his now-sharper teeth.

"KALA, GET BACK!" yelled Techo, firing a stunner at Matt, only for Matt to soak it up without any visible effect . Matt hissed before suddenly dashing off a lot faster than he could have before, enough to suck the air along behind him.

"Oh, that's not good..." said Chris weakly, a howl that was closer to a T-Rex roar heard in the distance .

"Is this a good point to ask if things can get any worse?" asked Kala.

Line break

"Ready for point to point hyperjump. It should bring us out above the city," said the technician on the dreadnought

"Good, at least those Plumbers and mercenaries won't be whining about tearing apart the city," said the Archon.

"Jumping in 3...2...1!" began the technician…

...

With a crack of thunder, a large bat-like ship was hovering over the city. "Oh...oh shit...that's not good," said Techo weakly .

"That's not from Darkrift, is it?" asked Kala.

"No, that's a revenite dreadnought," said Techo weakly .

"I just had to ask if this could any worse," muttered Kala.

...

The Archon had decided to leave the crew to oversee the bombs preparation to check on the human. Ben and Rook had been placed in cells opposite each other. "I warned you. I warned and warned you," he said in a sage voice .

"Well excuse us if trying to save people is the dumb thing to do," said Ben.

"These people are already dead. These nanites are designed to be administered by my device. Your friend is an anomaly," said the Archon calmly, as if mass murder was normal .

"Doesn't your mirror have a reverse switch?" asked Ben, "I mean, you revenites can't be completely careless when it comes to worker safety."

"It's a prototype, but it does keep records of original lifeforms," said the Archon thoughtfully .

"Then perhaps a more peaceful solution can used to solve this problem instead of something so drastic," said Rook.

"No, your friend is a prime example. No infection will leave planetside," snapped the Archon, getting a little too close to Rook.

"You can stop the infection here and now," said Rook.

"That's what I intend to do. There will be many lost, but nothing the universe can't recover from," said the Archon.

"Then I must resort to a less peaceful solution," said Rook before reaching through the bars and punching the Archon right on the chin. The Archon, to everyone's surprise, went back like a tree, slumping against the bars of bens cell, a gem visible that looked like it fitted the door's keyhole . "I did not even put that much force into it," remarked Rook.

"Well, he's a scientist. Science geeks are a lot weaker than the guys who are hired for their muscles," said Ben, "Rook, you think you can get that gem into the keyhole?"

Rook nodded, grabbing the gem and fitting it into his door, which immediately seemed to melt into nothing. Rook soon went over to Ben's cell and unlocked the door.

"Ok, we got a bunch of werewolf-aliens running around below, our friends somewhere in the mix, and who knows what state Matt is in," said Ben.

"Do we have a plan?" asked Skurd.

"Yep, we're taking over this ship," said Ben.

"Brilliant," said Skurd in a sarcastic tone before there was a rattle behind them, the two turning to see the Archon reaching for a red dot on the wall, which immediately began to set off alarms...and opened a far door that led outside. Each cell opened out into space if needed.

Rook and Ben tried to grab hold of the wall, but the air suction soon became too strong. "As you humans say: happy landings," laughed the Archon as the two were sucked out.

As the two of them started hurtling through the empty air, Ben said, "Does that guy really expect me to be taken out that easily?" With that, he dial up his Omnitrix and hit Astrodactyl. Well, he meant Astrodactyl, what he got was Skydrake.

"Eh, good enough," said Skydrake before swooping to catch Rook.

From outside, the ship had a sinister look...and a weird air that it was glaring at the two Plumbers that fell away from it .

"I do not believe that is a ship of ordinary construction," said Rook.

"Revenites don't really count as 'ordinary'," said Skydrake.

Several planetary defense force ships flew into sight then, firing on the revenite ship only for two 'eyes' to appear and twin beams to lance out. The ship's shapes were briefly visible before vanishing.

"Ok, that's definitely a ship that should have stayed buried," said Skydrake.

"Agreed, but our greater concern is to what's going on below," said Rook.

"Yeah, let's-" began Skydrake before a blast narrowly missed them, the dreadnought slowly turning to aim again. "Oh, that's not a good sign," said Skydrake before flying downwards as fast as he could within control. However, eventually the ship seemed to lose interest, the duo heading down and into an alley.

"Ok, now we're out of the ship and in the city were a pack of plague-spreading Loboans are roaming about," said Skurd.

On cue, the Omnitrix's AI said, "Airborne nanotech detected...activating emergency DNA encode to avoid infection."

"What? Oh no, not again," groaned Skydrake before with a flash, he became Blitzwolfer.  
"It's better than being infected." said Rook, who was pulling his rebreather down

"Yeah, but this better only last for a little while," said Blitzwolfer.

The com lit up at that. "This is DARKRIFT 2-15 entering system...we are picking up an omega class event in progress...all ground teams, confirm situation."

"Darkrift, are they are on our side?" asked Blitzwolfer.

"Who is that? This is a NSF frequency...identify yourself immediately," said 2-15's voice .

"Uh, this is Ben Tennyson, multi-time savior of the universe," said Blitzwolfer.

"Very well...what's the situation down there? We're detecting a revenite challak class battlecruiser over the capitol...please confirm."

"Yeah, well, we're aware of that and trying to deal with a cleanup operation down here as well," said Blitzwolfer.

"This is outside your level...NSF forces are en-route...do not engage revenites...they are classified as class z...I repeat...do not engage," said 2-15 .

"It's a little late for that," said Skurd dryly.

"We will be on site soon. Targets may attempt a void bomb sanitization...stop that bomb if possible...it cannot be disar-" began 2-15 before the line went dead.

"So, no pressure then," said Blitzwolfer in a remarkably calm tone.

On cue, the wall ahead of them was demolished, a revenite stormtrooper flying through. What looked like a bear lunged through till the dust cleared.

"What was that?" asked Rook.

"Don't think that was your average rampaging newly-turned Loboan," said Blitzwolfer.

The creature turned before its jaw split into five segments and it roared at them. Rook and Blitzwolfer were both thrown backwards by the blast, but fortunately the creature was apparently not interest in prolonged assault, not when there was something more instantly gratifying at claw. Rook managed to get back up and observe the beast attacking the stormtrooper. In a lot of ways, it resembled Crujo, though its head more resembled a pitbull's than a wolf's, excluding the quintimuzzle. More noticeably, the beast's armor and collar looked familiar.

"Is that Matt?" asked Rook.

"Since when could he go Ultimate?" asked Blitzwolfer.

Those words got the creature's attention this time, its eyes narrowing as it focused on the Loboan.

"Uh, Skurd, I think I might need a little help here," said Blitzwolfer.

"Shall we try this?" asked Skurd before producing an Echo Echo megaphone.

"We're trying to capture Matt, not blow him to kingdom come," said Blitzwolfer.

"Capture, ah, perhaps this will be of more use," said Skurd before producing some Wildvine tendrils.

The creature just glared before howling what was less a sonic blast and more a proper sonic cannon. Unlike a normal Loboan's howl, this clearly had no 'stun' setting as it reduced the wall behind them to dust .

"Ow, ok, we need something a lot tougher than vines," said Blitzwolfer.

"Then I suggest we use his enhanced senses against him," said Skurd before morphing Blitzwolfer's arms into Gutrot's.

"Not a bad idea, hope we're upwind," said Blitzwolfer before expelling some very strong stink gas at the beast.

The reaction was extreme, Matt yelping and covering his nose...before pausing and giving a toothy grin, reaching towards his neck for his helmet controls. However, Matt's thicker claws had trouble with the tinier buttons for his helmet control. As he fumbled for them, he inadvertently hit a few buttons on the Unitrix.

"Hybrid form activated," said the Unitrix before Matt juddered and changed into XLRWolf form.

"Perhaps he can calm down now," said Rook.

Then the Unitrix said "Evolution sequence activated." Red energy swept over Matt's form, making Matt's muscles a lot more compact and lither. When the energy stopped, Matt more closely resembled an anthro greyhound with XLR8's suit, wheels, and tail. But the biggest change was the jet engine that was now mounted on his back.

"I think you should stop tempting fate," said Skurd sarcastically before Matt seemed to vanish, a blur shooting at them...and missing. The two stepped aside to let the new XLRWolf variant to shoot past them and into the wall...and through it

"I guess Matt absorbed more than we thought from Omnirus," said Blitzwolfer.

"Yes, but it's only a matter of time before he figures out how to handle that form," said Skurd. Blitzwolfer and Rook jumped aside as Matt charged again, making him miss or run into another wall. "Or he'll knock himself silly before that," said Skurd.

However, the third miss, when it occurred, wasn't a hit as well, Matt stopping in time and turning to growl, though mainly at Skurd .

"Matt, we are your friends. You do not want to fight us," said Rook.

"In case that doesn't work, Skurd, I need something to trip him up," said Blitzwolfer.

"Coming right up," said Skurd before producing an Arctiguana-based cannon.

"That'll work," said Blitzwolfer before freezing all the ground around them. Matt, however, had paused, staying away from the ice as it encircled him.

"Where is Chris and the others?" asked Rook.

"Probably dealing with a bunch of crazy new Loboans and the crazy old Loboans," said Blitzwolfer.

Matt meanwhile seemed to be...thinking of all things, his eyes getting a red tinge. "We ought to be finding them before they're overwhelmed," said Rook.

"Once we've made sure Matt isn't going anywhere," said Blitzwolfer.

On cue, with a howl like a jet, Matt jumped over the ice, planting both feet on Blitzwolfer's back . "What the-" started Blitzwolfer before the jet engine on Matt's back fired up and gave a big boost jump. He landed with a crouch in front of them, his eyes glowing red and more sinisterly, not wearing any expression, more of a machine than anything.

"Are we certain this is completely derived from that freak incident with Omnirus?" asked Skurd.

Matt glared at that before baring his teeth and lunging at Rook . Rook quickly shot a net from his Proto-Tool which Matt ran right into. The result was Matt rolling along the ground before ending up against the far wall, Matt struggling but still not making so much of a whimper, his struggles mechanical in nature .

"Yeah, I think Matt's brain is more damaged than usual. We gotta shut off this nanite mess quick," said Blitzwolfer.

Just then, Chris's voice was heard on Rook's communicator, "Rook, Ben, you guys just reappeared on the grid, where are you?"

"I dunno, somewhere near the market. How bad is this?" said Ben into his communicator.

...

Chris fired a few shots out from his cover only to lay down as several revenite ion blasts that demolished the top of his cover. "Bad. Bunch of those bat brains just drooped into the middle of the area, took over where we think Gralen's little bomb is. They set something up."

"It's a void bomb," said Blitzwolfer's voice, "The revenites set to wipe out everyone infected and anyone who might be carrying the nanites."

"Oh, that is not good. Those things were hell during the revenite war. You can't turn them off once they're set up. We might need Jury Rigg, get to us!" snapped Chris, adding, "And watch out, Lynch is running around somewhere and he's mauling anything that gets close."

"Yeah, we noticed, you could have mentioned that he was capable of going Ultimate XLRWolf," said Blitzwolfer.

"He did what now?" asked Chris.

Techo rolled his eyes. "Great, even more trouble. Slap some sense into him and he might be useful," he said rudely .

Just then, the comm beeped. "Hang on, I got another call from the ship," said Chris.

"Patch it in," said Blitzwolfer.

A little later, Elena's voice was heard saying, "Are you guys just about done down there? It's so boring up here."

"Nothing much, just an alien wolf invasion and nutter aliens setting up a doomsday device!" snapped Techo, his voice turning into a hysterical scream towards the end .

"What kinda doomsday device?" asked Elena.

"Oh, nothing much. Just something that'll wipe out all life in this city just to make sure they've eliminated everyone who has bad nanites in them," said Chris, his tone as dry as a desert.

"Well, that's just stupid," said Elena.

"Oh pardon us for being involved in a doomsday plot that doesn't meet your criteria," snapped Chris.

"No, I mean, if those aliens wanted to get rid of those nanites that badly, why don't they just adjust their device to only take out the nanites?" asked Elena.

"Because the revenites have superiority complexes the size of small star systems. We're all expendable," snapped Techo .

"Typical. Well, I suppose somebody's got to reconfigure that device," said Elena.

"Yeah, how about you? You're basically made of tech," said Blitzwolfer.

"Why would I want to be endangering myself?" asked Elena.

"Because it's the right thing to do and if the captain gets wiped out, the crew has orders to terminate you," said Chris bluntly.

"You wouldn't. Anyway how would they-" began Elena's voice before she was cut off by a 'wheee'. "Because we chose our crew on this escapade for their level of sanity: the less the better," said Chris smugly .

"You think using the spiderbots is a little too much?" asked Techo.

"You got a better way to convince her?" asked Chris.

"Good point. Ok, Elena, you ready to cooperate with us or stay with them?" said Techo .

"Alright, alright, it was getting boring up here anyways. So how am I supposed to get down there?" asked Elena.

"Since the Archon has a blockade against every ship entering or leaving the planet's atmosphere, we shall have to find another way to get her down here," said Rook.

"Easy, get NegaMorph to shadow her here," said Chris.

Techo nodded, "You hear that, Nega? Get her down to us."

"How is he supposed to-WHOA!" yelped Elena before her connection was lost.

"Now we just wait for Ben and Rook to get here," said Techo calmly.

...

Meanwhile, Ben and Rook were busy dragging the hogtied Matt along. They'd doubled the bonds and for now, Matt seemed to have stopped, though he was ignoring any attempt to communicate .

"I am most concerned about Matt. This is quite outside of both his usual behavior pattern and his savage behavior pattern," said Rook.

Suddenly, Matt tensed up, his eyes getting a purple glow before he said in a cultured tone, "That is because your friend is not your friend anymore."

"I figured someone had turned Matt into a puppet," said Blitzwolfer.

"No, all these people are damaging my creation. It decided it was under attack so chose the most combat savvy of its networked units to thin the herd," said the Archon via Matt .

"You know there's a better way to get rid of those nanites," said Ben.

"There is none. My nanites far outstrip your little metal bugs that you use. They are biological in nature. You need to burn them out and only void radiation can do it. It burns out everything else too. So, I must be on my way. After today, my mirror will need a new stabilization matrix crystal. I'd like to say 'see you next time' but we both knows you aren't getting off this planet alive. I leave you in the capable hands of my new chief of security, Dan'va'," said the Archon, before Matt's head slumped forward, revealing a bat thing clinging to the wall behind Matt and aiming an organic-looking rifle .

"Skurd, I need something that can-" started Blitzwolfer before the shadow next to the bat thing rippled and NegaMorph sprang out of it. He chomped on the creature with his main mouth while his hand-mouth bit the rifle.

A second later, NegaMorph was sent flying back, the creature calmly jumping down into a crouch. While it was the same mechanical nature of before, this had intelligence behind it, regarding the attackers as it healed .

The creature aimed its rifle at the two before sickly black veins started spreading from where NegaMorph had bitten the rifle. The creature quickly threw the rifle away before flying upwards.

NegaMorph grinned as the rifle landed at his feet. "Heh...bioware's so vulnerable to vi-" he said before it exploded and he was splatted against a wall. "I still claim victory," he rasped .

"Great, you think you got enough juice to infect that ship?" asked Blitzwolfer, pointing up at the dreadnaught.

"Not likely and not a good idea if I did," said NegaMorph, "That ship would probably blow us all to bits if it got infected and not in the controlled sort of way."

The creature, however, wasn't waiting, lunging at the trio, hitting NegaMorph hard enough to send him over the rooftops before turning to glare at the others. "This area will be sanitized of pollutants," he said coldly .

"You do realize that if the bomb goes off with its current settings, you will also be wiped out by the blast," said Rook.

"Don't waste your breath, Rook," said Blitzwolfer, "Their security guys don't care what happens to themselves. It's part of the reason why these guys are nearly extinct."

"You know us, freak," sneered the revenite, smartly keeping his distance .

"_I'm_ the freak? I'm not the one who looks like an overgrown bat with the brain of an ant," said Blitzwolfer.

"Coming from someone with more DNA in his blood then me," laughed the revenite .

"I think you're referring to him," said Blitzwolfer, pointing at NegaMorph.

"Does it matter?" smirked the revenite, before pulling out a second bio gun and firing a green burst at Blitzwolfer, narrowly missing .

"We have no compunctions about blowing him away, do we?" asked Skurd as he produced the Echo Echo megaphone. On cue, Matt jumped to his feet and jumped on Blitzwolfer from behind, the mirror apparently deciding he was the biggest threat .

"Oh for smeg's sake," groaned NegaMorph before morphing into a black sheep-like creature.

"What is that supposed to-" started the revenite before NegaMorph baaed at him, which instantly caused him to drop into a deep sleep. Then NegaMorph bleated at Matt, which had the unintended effect of putting Ben to sleep as well.

NegaMorph facepalmed at that before reading his Lockblade. "Time to deal with you at least," he said before jumping as the revenites eyes shot back open . "Oh, light sleeper, eh?" asked NegaMorph, "I've got other cousins that could be more effective. But I'd rather make this quick."

The revenite didn't wait, punching NegaMorph as hard as it could . Since NegaMorph wasn't a heavyweight, he went flying quite far. "Now, to deal with..." said the revenite before noticing Rook, Blitzwolfer, and Matt was gone.

...

"Ben is fortunate that I'm capable of closing my ears," said Skurd as he dragged Blitzwolfer's snoozing body across the ground with some Tetramand arms he had grown, "It actually comes quite in handy when he's in one of his inane babbling moods."

Matt landed in front of him at that, bearing his teeth . "Was he not asleep?" asked Rook.

"Apparently you woke him up. I told you not to drag him through that puddle," said Skurd.

Matt growled, lunging at them, before running into a silver cloud. Matt gave a confused yelp before suddenly the silver cloud created a cage around him.

A few mites also went to the collar, sparks flying from it before it lit back up. "Cache deleted...resetting system in 3...2...1!" said the collar .

Matt shook his head and asked, "What's going on here? What's with the cage? And what the heck have I turned into this time?"

"Ultimate XLRWolf," said Skurd calmly, before being a little surprised when Matt didn't freak out.

"Oh, so, I'm an improved version of both XLR8 and Blitzwolfer, right?" asked Matt.

"Which includes a jet engine on your back," said Skurd.

"A what now?" asked Matt, before looking over his shoulder, "Oh, what do you know."

Skurd said, "I must admit, you're taking this well."  
Matt shrugged, "This is just a normal Monday for me." Then Matt noticed the snoring Blitzwolfer and asked, "How could he be asleep?"

"NegaMorph turned into some kind of sheep creature that put him to sleep with its bleat," said Rook.

"Huh? Oh, you mean Drowsy. Just splash some water in his face," said Matt.

"That's all?" laughed Skurd before letting Blitzwolfer faceplant into a puddle.

Blitzwolfer sat up and said, "Who, what, where?"

"It's about time you got up," said the silver cloud as Elena formed from it, "Are you gonna help me with that bomb or what?"

"Hey, what about me?" complained Matt .

"Depends, you gonna be used as a puppet by the Archon again?" asked Blitzwolfer.

"I was what?" said Matt in horror .

"The Archon was able to control you through that mirror thing," said Elena, "But I shut off that connection."

"Well, that's something. Did I miss anything other than that?" asked Matt .

"Not much except NegaMorph chomping on one of the bioorganic rifles and it exploding," said Ben.

"Oh, that's ok then," said Matt, getting a glare from NegaMorph.

"Now then, where's the doomsday weapon we have to pull the plug on?" asked Matt.

"We're not pulling its plug, we're reprogramming it," said Elena, "Would be easier if Ben was something more useful with technology than a big dog."

"The Omnitrix switched me to Blitzwolfer when we got within the nanite radius," said Blitzwolfer.

"You only need a couple of minutes," said Matt.

"I should be able to get it set to Jury Rigg, but considering how many Loboans and revenites we're gonna have to fight through..."

"Then the rest of us have our work cut out," said Matt.

"Let's hope that evolved form of yours comes in handy," said NegaMorph.

"Well, we'll find out then." said Matt

...

Turns out that form did come a lot in handy. Matt was like a bullet train, plowing through what little opposition could impede his way in a matter of seconds. It was a bit unsettling on the stomach though. The group came to a stop in front of one of the largest glamorous hotels Matt had seen outside Paradiso...well, before the revenite team had taken over.

"Looks like the sort of place that Karuna would be living in," said Ben.

Karuna, unchanged, popped up at that, "Yes, but those nasty bats have all ruined it. I'll have to build a new one."

Ben yelped and hid behind Rook at that. "Ben, we're trying to save the planet. Don't embarrass me here," said Matt.

The captain was visible in the doorway, waving orders to his squad. "Ben, you got any heavy artillery?" asked Chris

"Uh, sure, what could work against those guys? I already tried Atomix, NRG, and Gutrot," said Ben, "The Archon threw them right back at me."

"Then maybe some psychological warfare is needed," said Kala.

"That's right. Revenites have a serious superiority complex. Break that and they start messing up," said Matt.

"Well, there is one alien I could use but it's not gonna be pretty," said Ben.

"Do it," snapped Matt.

"Ok, but you guys better not look directly at me," said Ben before activating the Omnitrix and turning into Toepick.

"Oh, you got a Grendalek, figures," said Matt.

The revenite troopers looked at each other, though the captain's eyes widened and he turned away. "Alright, you guys think you're the scariest aliens around here? Here comes your competition," said Toepick before his cagelike helmet opened up.

The revenite troopers took a step back, a couple dropping their weapons at that. "Wanna see me get even uglier?" said Toepick, his voice sounding more distorted as he said it.

The revenites turned to run only for several blasts to cut them down, the captain lowering his blaster. "I keyed out my fear synapses years ago," he said darkly.

"Yeah, but there's only one of you now and I've been keeping your attention this whole time," said Toepick.

The captain cracked his neck, eyeing them and spotting Matt backing up. "I see one of you is smart enough," he sneered.

"Maybe, hard to tell with him," said Toepick.

The captain lunged forward at that, practically teleporting before punching Chris aside. His approach was halted when he felt something on his chest. He glanced down to see a large metal spike sticking through his chest. "You think that would be enough to stop me?" he asked.

"No, but how about I go digging around your chest cavity until it does?" asked NegaMorph as he stuck his hands through the hole in the back the spike was making, "Hmm, what are these? These feel important," said NegaMorph as he started yanking gibs out.

A fresh pull got his attention though, the revenite grinning. "Fresh DNA..." he coughed.

"Uh, NegaMorph, I think you need to get your mitts out of that guy's body now," said Matt.

"I'm trying!" snapped NegaMorph before yelping as he was literally dragged into the revenite captain who shifted to a far more humanoid and neat version.

"Ah, much better," said the captain.

"Cough him up right now or else," growled Matt.

"Or else what?" asked the captain smugly up until Matt started running around with him like he was in a centrifuge. The revenite raised an eyebrow before sticking an arm out, his arm barely moving as Matt rammed into it. "Next," he said calmly

Matt's jaws split open, but the revenite squeezed them shut before he could let out a howl. "Evolved or not, you still have a small bag of tricks," said the revenite. However, neither he nor Matt noticed the jet engine on Matt's back glowing blue until it unleased a larger, more concentrated version of the sonic howl.

The revenite was sent flying, before he flipped in the air and landed in a crouch. "Very nice DNA too. It's a keeper...and with built-in viral weaponry," he sneered, aiming his hand to reveal fangs ready to fire.

"I wouldn't hang onto it for too long. NegaMorph is really nasty for digestion," said Matt.

"Was that its name? I know, he is quite indigestible...if you eat him. I have absorbed him," laughed the revenite before pausing, as if confused. The revenite's chest suddenly started bulging, as if something was trying to push out. "What is happening?" he asked.

"Looks like NegaMorph is disagreeing with you," said Matt. The revenite glared before pushing back...before making a gagging motion. "Those with a weak stomach might want to head on before this gets really messy," said Matt.

"No...I...will not...oh bollocks," yelped the captain, before he exploded.

The captain's remains twitched on the ground like a spilled catch of fish before they reformed into NegaMorph. "That...was...the worst thing, no, second worst thing, that ever happened to me," said NegaMorph, "I'm gonna need an excruciating exfoliating after that."

"Could be worse, you could be back to normal," said Chris weakly.

NegaMorph glanced down at himself and saw that he was wearing the revenite's form. "Hmm...I suppose it's less grotesque than what I usually look at, but I'm still reeling from the trauma so..." said NegaMorph before grabbing his head and ripping himself down the middle, allowing his asymmetrical experiment form out.

The others winced at that before Matt said weakly, "Never again, NegaMorph."

"It was no picnic for me either," said NegaMorph, "Let's just reset that bomb thing already."

The group came in, spotting a smashed statue of the king, the aforementioned king sobbing at it. "Big whoop," said NegaMorph, "He's probably got dozens of statues."

Matt sighed, walking past before pausing. "Found the bomb," he said weakly, pointing to a gigantic organic...tick in the foyer, the thing turning to look at them with a disinterested look.

"Ok, so how are we supposed to reprogram that?" asked Kala.

"Just leave it to me," said Toepick before pressing on the Omnitrix and turning into Jury Rigg.

The bug cocked its head at that. "It's not machinery," warned Techo, the insectoid looking down as Jury Rigg came up to it, its mandibles clicking. If anything it had the expression you'd; expect to see on a dog meeting someone new.

"But it has a brain," said Skurd before tapping the Omnitrix and causing Ben to shift into Brainstorm.

"Hmm, this seems rather apropos, considering the organic nature of the device," said Brainstorm before sending a bolt of brain energy as the bug's head.

The bug wailed at that, a distressing sound like that you'd expect to hear from a frightened animal. "Ben, leave it alone, you're hurting it," said Kala.

"Ben, you keep zapping that thing," snapped Matt, the bug making whimpering noises and trying to cringe away, covering its eyes with its front claws.

"Matt, don't be so mean," said Kala.

"Kala, it _wants_ you to feel bad about attacking it, just so you'll leave it alone until it goes kaboom," said NegaMorph.

Matt twitched as the bug's psychic cries tried to get into his head too. "Chris...keep her away," he said as the bug continued to shriek before pausing.

To Brainstorm, it was a kid's voice suddenly in his head. "Stop hurt..." it asked simply, in a naive voice.

"Don't listen to it. It's just a bug version of Mr. Stenchy, with a deadlier payload than just stink gas," said NegaMorph.

The bug looked at NegaMorph at that. "Squishy cute," it said before stomping on NegaMorph.

"It's a lot less friendly than Mr. Stenchy too," said NegaMorph from under the bug's foot.

"Squeaky noise nice," said the psychic voice as it stomped repeatedly, causing squeaky toy noises.

"Listen my good, um, insectoid incendiary, you are within the final phases of exploding and exterminating the populace of this metropolis which I am endeavoring to avert by reprogramming you to mere eradicate the nanotech pestilence you are meant to fumigate," said Brainstorm.

"Not allowed...illness bad...get off home worse," said the bug in a childlike tone.

"But would it not be better if we could make everyone well instead of blowing them up?" asked Brainstorm, reducing his normally expansive vocabulary to something simpler.

The bug cocked its head, Matt saying, "Whatever you're doing, keep doing it."

"Yes, all you have to do is adjust your settings just a little and nobody has to die," said Brainstorm.

The bug didn't reply before looking up and starting to make squeals again. "Uh, that's not caused by us, right?" asked Chris.

The group turned to see up the long main street, dozens of Loboans barreling towards them. "You have got to be kidding," groaned Matt.

"Bad illness...bad illness!" shrieked the bug in Brainstorm's head.

"Yes, bad illness, but you have the cure for everyone. Just target the illness, not the people carrying it," said Brainstorm.

The bug looked at Brainstorm at that, its eyes seemingly looking into Brainstorm's soul before its eyes blazed blue...and every light and computer in the city went out...and everyone except Ben, NegaMorph and Rook collapsed.

"What just happened?" asked Rook.

"Hmm...I have a good idea, but my tech implants haven't wigged out," said NegaMorph.

"Illness gone," said the bug out loud, in a high-pitched voice before tearing the floor paneling away with ease and burrowing down, leaving only a hole after a minute, a rumble vanishing into the distance.

"Well, that was simple," said Skurd.

"But none of the Loboans have changed back," said Rook. Just then, the mob of Loboans started shifting back, rather like watching popcorn pop.

But one of the Loboans, from Gralen's original cult, staggered in and snapped, "You ruined everything!" He was about to blast them with his howl when the floor opened up underneath him and the bug swallowed him whole. The others jumped back as the Loboan tried to free himself, screaming in pain before it was cut off with several crunches, the bug looking around, before burping loudly.

"Uh, he had that coming?" said NegaMorph weakly.

The bug hacked before spitting a wrist computer out before chirping, "Bye-bye." before burrowing back down.

"Yeah, bye-bye, the big bug went 'bye-bye' and is loose on the planet," said NegaMorph breaking down into hysterical laughter.

Matt, now back to human, groaned before sitting up. "Is everyone alright?" asked Matt.

Rook checked his scanners and said, "It appears that the void bomb has eliminated all nanites within the city radius."

"Wait, all nanites? Including the medical nanites keeping my immunity system from crashing? Kala, I need you to listen very carefully..." Matt paused as he noticed Kala was an experiment again and in very oversized clothes. "Oh, right, Rook, I need to listen very carefully: I'm going to need some medical nanites very soon or the coma I'm about to go into will be very permanent."

NegaMorph rolled his eyes, reaching into his shadow before, rather childishly, throwing the entire pack at Matt's head. "When else would I get the chance?" he said happily as Matt burbled and went out cold again.

Ben changed back and said, "Wait, all nanites? Where's Elena?"

"Oh, right, thanks for reminding me," said NegaMorph reaching into his shadow and pulling out a shivering Elena.

"So...dark..." she muttered.

"Oh grow up, you weren't so bad with it the first time," said NegaMorph.

"How long was she in there?" asked Rook, waving a hand in front of Elena's face.

"Oh, ever since we found out that the void bomb would potentially wipe her out," said NegaMorph. There was a pause at that before NegaMorph said weakly, "Erm...oops?"

"Well, at least this Loboan matter is finally at an end," said Rook.

"Uh, Kai wasn't here, remember? She's still on Earth with her nanite problems," said Ben.

"And I doubt we can convince Bugsy to get in the Skyraid III, even if he would fit," said NegaMorph.

"Is the revenite dreadnought not within the range of the void bomb's effect radius?" asked Rook.

NegaMorph peered out and looked up. "Looks like they bugged out," he said before losing his head...literally as Matt hit him with his ion blade, now full of medical nanites again.

...

It soon turned out that Matt had lost more than just his Shar and medical nanites. He had also lost the translator nanites that would have been useful to translate the Tantalog that Kala was reduced to using. "I could have sworn she had a more extensive vocabulary when we first met," said Matt.

"You had translators when you met her," said Techo pointedly, who was fiddling with Matt's cyberarm.

"It's probably best that you don't know what she's been saying anyways," said NegaMorph before dodging a fiery plasma ball thrown by Kala.

"Kala, there's spare translators back at the Novus Star. We can deal with it there. I'm more worried how angry Kai will be," said Matt.

There was angrier jabbering from Kala and NegaMorph said, "No, Ben's girlfriend Kai. I wouldn't worry about your Kai resurfacing unless you glug down something pure evil or whatever."

"This is gonna be fun," said Matt, getting up and walking to his quarters, opening the safe and pulling out one of the vials. "Hmm...do I really want to go through with this? On one hand, I get awesome dragon/elemental powers. On the other hand, I'll be able to go home with little fuss."

He paused before saying, "Helping my friends or seeing my family..."

...

"Novus control, this is Skyraid III on approach. We lost him again. We also need a full nanite transfusion team ready on site," said Chris.

"Really, how did that happen?" asked a voice that Chris was not expecting.

"Er, Kai, what are you doing on the Novus?" asked Chris.

"Waiting for Ben to get back with my cure," said Kai cheerfully.

"Right...about that," said Chris a bit sheepishly.

"What about it?" said Kai, an appearing growl and yells in the background indicating she'd shifted form.

"Er, you're kinda late for the cure-all event," said Chris.

"WHAT?" roared Kai over the line, the line going dead from sonic overload.

"Ok, we still need to track that guy down so we can cure Kai before she can kill us, but at least the worst of our problems are over," said Techo.

"We have to land on the same ship as her," pointed out Elena.

"Oh...where did I put my spare armor?" asked Chris.

"You're still a werewolf, git," snapped Matt.

"Yeah, but I'm not invulnerable," said Chris.

"Well, least we crippled Gralen and there are some actual crimes on his head now," said Matt.

"Yep, he'll be rotting in that chicken coop for a long time," said NegaMorph.

"You didn't hear?" said Chris, "They didn't grab him. He stole a Condor transport from the ship, took all the vials and left his boys to rot."

NegaMorph groaned and said, "You mean all we got out of this was just Matt and Kala getting their vaccines?"

"No, we know the sort of ship the Archon's in...and it's big...and therefore easy to spot," said Matt.

"Right, I suppose we also know how to board and capture it," said NegaMorph dryly.

"No, we need to wait for a chance," said Matt calmly.

"Who knows when that next chance is gonna be?" said NegaMorph bitterly.

"He said it was damaged," said Matt darkly, adding, "And it uses crystalline technology."

"Well, that narrows it down to a couple of silicon worlds," said NegaMorph.

"Then we watch those worlds like hawks," said Matt.

...

"Respond, you stupid thing!" snapped the Archon. While his ship had gotten away, he wasn't able to tell if the job had been done right or not as the void bomb was not responding.

"The void bug's torn its transmitter out," said a technician.

"It doesn't have the brain capacity for that!" snapped the Archon.

"System says otherwise," said the technician, before saying, "There's...more bad news: the terraformer's burnt out its primary processing gem. It requires an immediate replacement."

"You have not been keeping good maintenance," said the Archon in a dark tone.

"There was nothing I could do. Your device has no schematics to work off," said the technician desperately before screaming as the Archon calmly pulled out a solarite pistol and fired.

"Sir, while I do not stand against disposing of incompetent underlings, we may wish to be more conservative with our crew until we're able to bolster our gene pool," said the second-in-command.

"There is plenty more. Is there a reason you are here?" said the Archon darkly.

The second nodded, "Yes, we found a NSC Condor craft, one occupant, Loboan."

"Why should we care?" asked the Archon dryly.

"He was present at the outbreak. He claims to have caused it," said the second.

"Ah, well, we'll have to thank him for giving us so much trouble," said the Archon.

"He's already in a cell, awaiting your examination..." said the second smugly before the ship shook.

"Alert, explosion detected with detention center. Scans indicate the explosion released a payload of terraforming nanites," said the ship's computer.

"Oh...oh no," said the Archon in a small voice as the sounds of battle could already be heard.

* * *

There's the penultimate chapter, a little later than I wanted, but it's definitely got more than enough action to make up for it. While a large amount of the story's problem has been solved, there are still a few more to be taken care of. Keep an eye out for the final chapter tomorrow and please review.


	14. Diamonds are Forever

**Reticence Saga**

**The Aliens Within**

**Chapter 14: Diamonds are Forever**

As the Skyraid III started its return to the Novus Star, Matt asked, "Ok, does everyone know our plan for dealing with a savage and bad-tempered Kai?"

"Shameless groveling for mercy," said Skurd dryly.

"Don't worry, I have a plan," said NegaMorph. As soon as the door opened, NegaMorph shouted, "It wasn't my fault! I told them you should have been brought along but they didn't listen! Do whatever you want to them but spare me!"

Matt glared before blasting NegaMorph. "Silence, traitor!" he snapped before turning to Kai, "I told them to bring-" before he was sonic howled back up the ramp.

"Kai, I can explain..." started Ben before Kai snarled at him.

Kala stepped out and probably gave a very reasonable explanation that got lost in the translation. However, her presence did have a desirable effect: Kai squealing, picking her up, and saying, "Omigosh, she is so cute! Where did you get her?"

"That's my girlfriend," said Matt in a muffled voice, muffled as a crate was stuck over his head.

Kai paused before looking more closely at Kala, who had a rather irked look on her face. "I thought she was taller than this," said Kai.

"Yeah, she got cured of her nanite problems, but that also voided her humanity membership card," said Techo.

Kala glared before saying something in tantalog that made NegaMorph look shocked, "Kala, take that back."

"So do I need to keep sticking around here or what?" asked Elena.

Kai glared and asked, "What's she doing here?"

"She is helping us find the Anur mirror, as well as being protected from the nanochip Regent," said Rook.

"Of course, if she tries anything, I'll shoot her," said Matt cheerfully.

"You do realize she's a notorious thief, right?" asked Kai, "The kind that'll remove everything valuable as soon as you turn your back."

"She can try. Has Mina been any trouble?" asked Matt.

"Uh...she's kinda locked herself in the bar," said Kai.

"What? Why would she...oh God, we gotta stop her," snapped Matt.

"Can we stop her?" asked NegaMorph.

...

A simple override opened the door to the bar, though Matt ended up being sent flying from one of the many kr'ta bottles. "Mina, you've had too much, far too much," said Matt.

"Hey...godfatheeeer...hic," said Mina, her eyes looking in different directions, said eyes red.

"Lumina, who told you that you were allowed to drink?" demanded Matt.

"Aunt Chloe did, the fun Aunt Chloe," hicced Mina.

"The fun aunt Chloe was a fake, a chaos spirit," said Matt pointedly.

"The real Aunt Chloe was a partypooper," said Mina.

"The real aunt Chloe is trapped on a DARKRIFT penal planet," snapped Matt angrily, losing his temper.

"And why haven't we gone there yet?" asked Mina, "Why are we stuck here with nothing to do but get, hic, drunk?"

"Because we need to stop that revenite, get his mirror, and cure Kai...the Kai that's not in Kala's head," said Matt.

"Aunt Kala's better?" asked Mina.

"In a manner of speaking," said NegaMorph as he held up Kala.

Mina took one look at Kala before she started laughing her head off. "Aunt Kala's a koala!" she laughed.

Kala growled at that before extending her extra arms and lunging at Mina, clamping over her face and repeatedly hitting.

"Well, I can see that this problem is sorting itself out," said Matt cheerfully, "Now let's start looking for that revenite ship."

On cue, the alarm began to ring. "Warning...revenite jump signature detected off starboard," said the computer.

"Wow, that was quick," said NegaMorph.

...

Matt and NegaMorph, followed by the still dazed Mina and an angry Kala walked onto the bridge, emergency lighting on and crew running between stations, a small revenite ship visible on the screen. "Erm...that's not a dreadnought," said Matt.

"It looks more like an escape pod," said Rook.

"Bring it into dock 6. I'm going down personally," said Matt darkly.

Kala said something in protest. "She said 'Don't do anything reckless'," said NegaMorph.

"I'll be going there with a solarite cannon," said Matt, stepping into the lift.

...

The pod sat, literally in the bay, a squad of security troopers aimed at it as Matt walked in. "Anything?" he asked the squad leader

"Nothing yet, it could be that whoever's inside is in stasis or unconscious," said a trooper.

"Or playing possum," said Matt darkly.

With that, he aimed his solarite cannon at the ship and fired, the pod shaking from the blast. "Come out or the next shot's an anti-tank round," he called.

A little while later, the pod gave a hiss as it started to open up. Immediately, the troopers aimed at the opening hatch. Matt also aimed, and was surprised when the Archon, bleeding from various wounds staggered out. "Parley," he managed before falling down.

"Do those wounds look self-inflicted?" asked Matt.

A tech slowly backed up and took a look. "Not a chance...looks like a sonic blast," he said.

"Hmm...well, he's got a lot to answer for and questions to answer. Take him to the medbay, heaviest guard possible," said Matt.

"Yes, sir, we'll call you once he's awake," said the squad leader, two of his men, picking up the Archon and dragging him away.

...

Having your face assaulted by a disgruntled genetic experiment is quite sobering. Knowing that the person who is the source of the majority of your 'family's' current problems is in a defenseless state and in captivity is VERY sobering. Or at least makes you sober enough to direct your blind rage at.

The medical drone looked over as Mina waked into the medical bay. "Ma'am, is there a problem?" it asked.

"Yeah, we have that guy on life support when he should be getting the death penalty!" snapped Mina.

"The commander wishes to question him," said the drone calmly.

"Then he can rip out his brain and get the info he wants from it," snapped Mina.

"Miss Lumina, you are acting enraged. Would you like-" began the drone before Mina pushed it aside.

"I'll deal with him myself," snapped Mina.

"That is not per-" began the drone before a scythe shaped from shadows sliced it in half. Mina barely noticed what she did as she advanced on the door.

The Archon stirred at that, looking over. "Well, well, a Shar...of all the things..." he said quietly, smirking coldly.

"Damn right I am," said Mina as her claws extended into shadows.

"Interesting, the files I dug up said that Mr. Lynch kills Shar-Virk for a living," said the Archon smugly.

"I am not a Shar-Virk!" snapped Mina.

"Really? About to commit cold blooded murder? And call it justice?" said the Archon evilly.

"Don't tell me you don't deserve being killed for what you've done," said Mina.

"Some would say I do, but the reasonable ones would say I also deserve fair trial, to give me a change to validate my actions."

"Like you ever could," said Mina dismissively.

"I know I cannot. The NSC murdered my entire race down the last hatchling. You think they will let anyone know where they got their nanotech technological leap?" sneered the Archon.

"From the Ancients of course," said Mina.

"Not their medical nanites. They managed to reverse engineer a small batch, but they couldn't mass produce it. And then along we came...and those animals came for us, provoked us, then swarmed us like draki beetles when we retaliated," said the Archon in an old voice.

"You're alien vampires, you conquer other planets for a living, there couldn't have been that much provocation required," said Mina.

"And the Shar-Virk wiped out their own leaders. Murdering me will just make you as bad as me," laughed the Archon.

Mina paused and said in genuine confusion, "Uh, I cannot see any real reason for me killing you would make me as bad as you. If it's because you're helpless right now, it's because you're only vulnerable to be killed while you're in this state."

"Of course, because murdering someone on a medical bed is so good on the resume. Your parents will be so proud," laughed the Archon.

"What, do I have to drag you out to the training room and kill you there?" snapped Mina.

"Why not ask your godfather?" sneered the Archon, nodding to behind Mina.

Mina turned around to see with a disapproving look on his face. "Oh don't tell me you weren't thinking of driving a stake into this guy too," said Mina.

"No, the alarm went off in security. There's cameras everywhere," said Matt in a cold voice, hand on his blaster, "Step away from the prisoner."

Mina could hear a tiny little voice whispering in her head, _"You don't have to take orders from him. You're superior. If you back down to him, you'll have to back down to everyone. This is your chance to exert your dominance."_ Mina wasn't quite sure where these thoughts were coming from, but she didn't want to listen to them. "Fine..." she grumbled in a disappointed tone.

"Ok, Chris, take her to her quarters and leave her there," Matt said coldly, an equally angry-looking Chris coming in behind Matt with NegaMorph not far behind.

"Yes sir," said Chris before taking Mina's arm and leading her away.

"He deserves to die," snapped Mina, pulling against Chris's grip.

"Yes he does, but we need to get his information first," snapped Matt, "If you're to going to keep 'kill them now' as your first option, you're not going to get very high up in this organization."

"No, no information's worth him living," snapped Mina, her eyes slowly turning red

"Enough!" snapped Matt, "If you won't calm down, I'll just make you calm down. Chris, give her enough tranquilizer to keep her in Happyland for 48 hours."

Mina snarled at that before letting loose a blast that knocked everyone over. "NO! HOW DARE YOU?" she snapped.

"I dare because I am the captain, your godfather, and because you are having a temper tantrum that's getting out of control," said Matt.

Mina glared and lunged at Matt, only for Matt to spin to the side and crack her across the back of the head. Mina glared and snapped, "You will pay for-OW!" She jumped a bit in the air before turning to see that three quills were sticking out of her butt.

"One two-day pass to Happyland as requested," said Morph as he waddled in, his tail shrinking back down at losing the spines it had before.

Mina stared before glaring. "You'll pay for-duuuuuuh…" she said, her face turning goofy.

The Archon lifted an eyebrow and said, "What have you injected into her?"

"Oh, a little neurotoxin that makes 99% silly," said Morph.

"Fascinating...your creator must be a genius," said the Archon calmly.

"An evil genius," said Morph proudly.

"I suppose so," said the Archon before his hand shot out and grabbed Matt's wrist. "I would be careful. My people know alot about the Atlantean folly into nano-biotechnology, their 'Shars'. She has all the signs. Lock her up or kill her. She'll do the same to you eventually," he warned.

"We were on our way to take care of that problem until your bloody mirror put us on one hell of a sidetrip," said Matt.

"Your computer decided to rob my life's work. I was more than within my right to deal out a penalty," said the Archon loftily.

"Well your little penalty's snowballed out of control, hasn't it?" snapped Matt.

"Oh, I am sorry, I'll try to be more convenient to a grave robber," sneered the Archon.

"Ladies, can you put a raincheck on your bickering until a point where somebody cares?" asked NegaMorph.

The Archon turned to glare at NegaMorph. "Fine, the mirror is damaged. my...hijackers will want it, but they will need a very specific crystalline relay to bring it up to usability. There is only one local planet in the region capable," he said.

"And what planet would that be?" asked Matt.

Before the Archon could answer, Matt's comm beeped and a voice said, "Captain, we have a ship hailing us, looking for Ben apparently."

"Tell em to take a number. What planet, bat boy?" snapped Matt.

"Petropia," said the Archon.

"Uh, wasn't that one of the planets that Vilgax blew up a couple years ago?" asked NegaMorph.

"Survivors found a suitable planet to colonize. It's indistinguishable from their old homeworld now," said the Archon before the com came back.

"Sir, that ship's getting insistent," said the techie.

"Alright, alright, fine," snapped Matt before stomping out and muttering, "Can't get a moment to myself." He paused when he saw Mina apparently trying to eat a microscope and Chris trying to stop her from doing so. "On second thought…" he muttered, turning on the com. "I'm busy, make it quick," he snapped.

"Captain Lynch, I need Ben Tennyson urgently," said a deep voice.

"Ok, and who's needing him?" asked Matt

"Tetrax Shard of Petropia," said the voice.

"Well, speak of the devil. We were about to go there," said Matt in surprise.

"Ah, well, that makes things easier," said Tetrax's voice, "Assuming you do have Ben."

"Yeah, we have Ben. What do you need him for?" asked Matt.

"I think it would be more convenient to tell you in person if I may come aboard," said Tetrax.

"Bay two," said Matt, before Mina jumped him.

...

Matt, Ben, and Rook were in the bay as Tetrax's ship, The Resolute, landed in there. "So, you and Tetrax go way back?" asked Matt.

"Real way back," said Ben, "He's been good help over the years."

"Good to hear. The Archon says that little fiasco in bird land damaged the mirror. They're looking for a replacement for the crystal systems," said Matt calmly as the ship landed, raising a hand, "And yes, I had a Condor sent to get Kai. We're not missing another cure chance."

"Does anyone else think it is a very remarkable coincidence that Tetrax was out looking for us when this has occured?" asked Rook.

"Well obviously Gralen is attacking Petropia and Tetrax came to me for help," said Ben.

"Tetrax, what brings you to the madhouse?" said Matt bluntly.

"My homeworld is being devoured and I need Ben Tennyson's help to save it," said Tetrax before pausing and asking, "Is someone...chewing on me?"

"Mina had a little accident. She needed a time out via neurotoxin," said Matt, facepalming as Mina chewed on Tetrax's leg.

"Uh, I see..." said Tetrax uncertainly as he tried to shake Mina off.

"So you need me to stop the Loboan invasion?" asked Ben.

"Not just that. The Loboan invasion was partially a welcome relief since it gave the nanochip infestation something to fight with," said Tetrax.

"Nanochips?" said Matt weakly.

"Yes, the hive has been attempting to stripmine Petropia for the last two days," said Tetrax, "We've been able to heal the planet to cancel it out, but they grow more numerous. If we don't do something soon, they'll eating away at the planet fast than we can patch it up."

"They can eat planets?" said Matt, aiming a glare at Ben, "How come nobody tells me about the bad guys being capable of eating planets?"

"Hey, the nanochips haven't done it before. They always just made more out of themselves from nothing. Always wondered how they could do that," said Ben.

"That is because the nanochips you have faced before had been controlled by a queen that has the self-replicating ability," said Rook, "The Regent, who is obviously behind this, does not have that ability and thus would need a large supply of silicon to manufacture more drones."

"And they have Aria, which means knowledge of crystalline computer systems. Hence why they're eating crystals," said Techo.

"I thought we were forgetting something," muttered Chris, earning him a glare from everyone else, "I was kidding, geeze."

"One good thing: mirror shouldn't work on Tetrax or the others. No blood to infect," said Matt.

"True, but their crystalline body structures make them particularly vulnerable to sonic attacks," said Rook.

"Great, so we go in, get that mirror, and solve this problem...permanently," said Matt icily.

"How are we supposed to stop a horde of werewolf aliens and a hive of nanotech bugs at the same time?" asked Chris.

"I'm sure I can handle this," said Ben cockily.

"Yeah, I bet. We're all helping," said Matt, annoyed, Kala yelling something angrily in tantalog.

"Uh, Skurd, I think you're blocking the Omnitrix's translator again. Kala didn't ask for an ice cream, did she?" asked Ben.

Then Kala grabbed Ben by his shirt collar and pulled him down to her level. "Meega...coming...or else," growled Kala. Ben nodded weakly at that before Kala let go and smiled sweetly. "Thank you," she said happily.

"Her language skills are improving," said Rook.

"Like bicycle," said Kala.

"Kala, you are not going on a joyride in a time machine," snapped Matt, reaching to grab her and being absently thrown across the room by Kala without her even noticing.

"I've forgotten how much fun she is when she's like this," said NegaMorph cheerfully.

"Mutiny..." moaned Matt.

"Uh, we don't have to bring her along, right?" asked Tetrax, indicating Mina who had somehow gotten a bucket stuck over her head.

"I'm not leaving her onboard. Not in her current state. I want her where I can see her," said Matt.

"You want to drag her onto a battlefield between three armies?" asked Tetrax, "Isn't there anyone else among your crew who can supervise her?"

"No, I'm her godfather so she's my responsibility," said Matt.

"Can't we just drop her off at a daycare?" asked NegaMorph. This got him an odd look from everybody. "What? It's not like we can find a babysitter way out here," said NegaMorph.

"No, she'll have to come with us," said Matt coldly.

"Fine, but I'm not getting the blame if she breaks something irreplaceable," said NegaMorph.

...

Gralen smirked, looking around the bridge of the revenite dreadnought. While the revenites had proven mostly immune to the nanite bombs Gralen had made, his few remaining clan had easily overwhelmed and sealed them up below deck. Better, the ship he now had was easily overwhelming any attempt by the locals to destroy it.

"This is the best thing that ever happened to our clan," said Gralen smugly.

"I thought finding that nanite plague was the best thing that ever happened," said his second.

"Alpha, some of the metal insects are attacking again," said another, the ship shaking faintly as it fired on automatic at the attackers.

"They're wasting their time. Nothing can overcome this ship," said Gralen.

"Still, wouldn't it be easier for everyone if we settle some sort of peace treaty with them?" asked his second.

"Of course, maybe share everything? Invite them for a meal?" said Gralen sarcastically.

"Well, maybe, not sure what they eat..." started the second before Gralen smacked him upside the head.

"I was joking!" snapped Gralen, "Where is your brain today?"

"I...I don't know," said the second in confusion.

Gralen rolled his eyes and said, "Well go and find them."

"Yes sir," said the second before heading out. Gralen sighed and said, "Why did I make him second-in-command?"

"Because he showed the blindest loyalty?" suggested one of the crew.

"Watch your tone," said Gralen warningly.

"In any case, we shouldn't be putting off our goal much longer," said the crewmember, "Those walking geodes aren't going to be more forthcoming."

"No, the hive comes first," said another crewman in a dull voice before looking surprised.

"What did you say?" asked Gralen, his hand going to one of the blasters he had appropriated from the revenites. He stopped as he began to hear a buzzing, inside his head.

"Wait, those nanochips, they're attacking the ship to get in, they're attacking to keep US in, where we can be converted," said Gralen with mounting horror.

He looked down with horror to see that his left paw was covered in metal, before his second said, "And you fell for it perfectly."

...

"Ok, we'll be arriving at New Petropia at any moment," said Techo.

"It's not New Petropia, it's Old Petropia. I mean, we didn't have a New Petropia," said Tetrax.

"Uh, I know you're upset about your home planet being blown up, but you don't need to be in denial about it," said Techo before the Novus Star came out of hyperspace.

The crew was amazed at the sight of the crystalline, oddly tower-shaped world with its three similarly shaped moons. "Petropia is still here," said Tetrax with relief.

"Enemy ship in range," said a crewman, a light box going around a ship in orbit: the missing frigate.

"Oh good, this should be easy. Nuke it," said Matt nastily.

"So, do you guys have any other ships?" asked Ben.

"Petropia have suffered some setbacks since you help resurrect it," said Tetrax, "They are less willing to venture into the universe, afraid of what might follow them home."

"Great, xenophobes...wait, NSC records say the planet was vaporized. How'd you resurrect it?" asked Matt.

"Well, it's a very awesome story involving me, Chromastone, and the back-up crystal for Petropia," said Ben smugly.

"Oh boy, he's going to be like this for the rest of the trip," groaned Skurd.

"Ok, tell us later _after_ we've wiped those wolves out. Tactical, lock on to the biggest concentration of those wolfs and drop a thermal missile on them," commanded Matt.

"Uh, we're not showing that many Loboans on the planet," said a crewman.

"What?" said Matt in confusion, pushing the tech aside and looking himself. "This...could the nanochips have wiped em out?" he asked.

"It's possible. The nanochips do have superior numbers," said Tetrax, "Perhaps we should focus on them first."

"No way to lock onto silicon signals. Not on this world, sir," said the crewman.

"Well, against my better judgment, I guess we'll have to go down there and face them ourselves," said Matt.

...

Matt decided to only have the core team go down with Ben, Rook, and Tetrax, including Kai, who had been picked up enroute...though she'd more or less threatened her way aboard the dropship.

As they approached, they received a transmission from the planet, "Unidentified spacecraft, you are violating Petropian airspace. Identify yourselves or be shot down."

"Tetrax...over to you," said Matt, tossing a com set over.

"This is Tetrax Shard, I have returned with Ben Tennyson and other help," said Tetrax.

"Tetrax, you brought Tennyson?" said the officer on the other end.

"And some backup," said Matt down the line

"Well, I suppose we can't refuse Tennyson's help," said the officer, "Proceed to the gulch and head straight to the Temple of the Sky when you land."

"Erm, ok, Tetrax, you're in charge of the map," said Matt, before he turned to look at Kala and Kai, "You two are in charge of looking after Mina. She might try to chew on you." Kai gave Mina an uncomfortable look. "Oh, don't let her size and dragon powers discourage you. She's no tougher to take care of then the kids you've probably babysat," said Matt cheerfully.

"Uh, I didn't do any babysitting," said Kai.

"Really? You had to have done some," said Matt.

"No, I earned my pocket money by going on expeditions with Grandpa," said Kai.

"Well, you've had to have looked after your younger siblings," said Matt.

"I don't have younger siblings," said Kai.

"Younger cousins?" asked NegaMorph.

"No."

"Kids of your mom's friend who were foisted on you while she and your mom were busy?" asked Ben.

"Nope," said Kai.

There was an awkward pause before Matt said, "Maybe Mina isn't the best starter course."

Techo said frankly, "Have you ever been in a life or death situation where one wrong move would mean imminent demise?"

"Occasionally," said Kai.

"Great, you can handle Mina," said Techo flatly, pushing Mina at Kai.

"Doggy!" said Mina happily before squeezing Kai.

"That's...nice..." rasped Kai, being squeezed.

Matt noticed Ben's concerned look. "She'll be fine," he said.

"We're approaching the landing zone," said Tetrax.

"Ok, what can we expect? How bad is this bug infestation?" said Matt, readying a blaster.

"The nanochip hive has infested most of the southern hemisphere," said Tetrax.

"Uh, this planet isn't really sphere-shaped," said Ben.

Tetrax gave him a brief look before continuing, "We've been able to repair their damage so far, but they have almost amassed a large enough force to directly engage our populace."

"Hmm...that could be a pain. I'm guessing they won't want us thermal bombing the southern hemisphere," said Matt.

"Preferably not," said Tetrax, "Anyways, we wouldn't be able to tell for sure if we had succeeded in wiping them all out."

"Our best option may be to have Elena seize control of the hive from the Regent," said Rook.

"Maybe...wait, where is Elena? Did we leave her behind?" asked Matt.

"Oh, I've got her in here," said NegaMorph, tapping the N-mouth on his chest, "Didn't think it would be a good idea to let the Regent know her usurper's here until too late."

"Let her out before she goes nuts," snapped Matt.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't tell you so when the hive start battering down our door before we're ready," said NegaMorph before he spat up a shivering Elena.

Kai raised an eyebrow and asked, "This is the girl Ben had his first crush on?"

"I thought you were his first crush," said Chip.

"Uh..." said Ben awkwardly.

"Preparing to land," said Tetrax, thankfully interrupting the awkward atmosphere.

"Good. Ok, NegaMorph, you're going to a planet _made_ of precious diamond. Best behavior or else," snapped Matt.

"Oh like you're gonna keep track of every little chip," said NegaMorph sarcastically.

"Pardon?" asked Chip.

"I'm warning you..." said Matt, only for NegaMorph to smirk.

"Or what? You'll use plasma control and squash me? Oh, wait, that's gone," he said, slapping the back of Matt's head .

Everything went silent as everyone expected Matt to explode and pummel NegaMorph the old-fashioned way...until Matt just smiled and said, "Eh, easy come, easy go."

NegaMorph paused at that. "Hey, you can't use explosives in a shuttle," he warned.

Matt said sinisterly, "No...I just believe in choosing my moment."

"So, Tetrax, tell us about your people," said Chip casually, "What can we expect from them asides from their distrust of offworlders?"

"My people has been isolated from the universe for almost our entire history. We were a subterranean race, not even knowing there was a sky above the ceilings of our tunnels. That changed when a war between different clans accidentally cracked open the Great Gorge and showed us the surface. We only spent two century exploring the outside universe before Vilgax destroyed Petropia," said Tetrax.

"We're landing. Remember, NegaMorph, best behavior," said Matt, grinning evilly at NegaMorph who shuddered .

After a minute, the hatch opened and everyone stepped out. "Ooh...shiny..." said Mina. Given the crystalline structure of, well, everything and the few Petrosapiens there, that was a given reaction.

"Good evening, I'm the exterminator," said Matt cheerfully before anyone could gag him .

The Petrosapien guards narrowed their eyes and extended the spikes on their arms. "We're going to the Sky Temple to confer with planetary defense," said Tetrax.

"Yeah, we don't want to start a fight here," said Ben.

The guards suddenly all bowed. "We are grateful that you have come to help us once again, Savior of Petropia," said the apparent captain.

"This feels more normal," said Matt grumpily .

"Let's not waste more time," said Tetrax, "We must head to the temple."

"Fine, let's go so I can get to work killing those nanochips," said Matt, annoyed .

...

The Sky Temple was pretty impressive, resembling a massive cathedral whose steeples actually penetrated the cavern's ceiling and presumably extended into the outside world. Waiting for the group at the front of the cathedral was a figure in a crystalline sky blue and green robe, though it was not a Petrosapien. His body appeared to be made out of mostly purple rock with red crystal growing out of it which made up its hands and one-eyed face. "Ben, it is good to see you again," said the alien.

"You too, Sugilite," said Ben.

"Interesting name," commented Matt innocently before his brain realized an incoming incident. Kai had already had dirty looks all the way here and she was about to enter. "Uh, just for the record, Kai doesn't normally look like that," said Matt, "In fact, she's not really a Loboan. She's just been infected with some nanites that made her into one." Sugilite however still looked suspicious. "Really," said Matt .

"As I recall from my time in the Omnitrix, Kai was not a very kind person," said Sugilite.

"She's changed, she's my girlfriend now," said Ben.

"Oh, well, in that case, come in," said Sugilite.  
Matt paused at that as he processed part of that statement. "Time in the Omnitrix?" he said as Elena came in, still with a distant look from her time in NegaMorph's pocket dimension .

"Yes, my DNA was originally stored in the form of Chromastone and when I was needed to remake Petropia-" started Sugilite before pausing as Elena came near. "Halt!" he commanded as he pointed a glowing hand at Elena, "This one is infested with nanochips, why did you bring her here?"

"Whoa, easy, that's Elena, she's on our side and she's gonna help stop the hive," said Ben.

"Yeah, we need her to deal with your bug problem," snapped Matt.

"Have we met?" asked Sugilite.

"If it's because of something I blew up previously, then no," said Matt quickly.

"An offworld mercenary?" said Sugilite, Matt glaring and saying "A guy with a name like a candy bar?"

"You didn't complain so much about Rad," said Tetrax.

"Yes, but he has not been proving to be a gracious guest," said Sugilite.

"Wait a minute, Rad? As in Captain Rad Profit Danger Trouble Dudesman?" asked Matt.

"You know him?" said Chris in surprise.

"Know him? I shot him once," said Matt icily.

"Over what?" asked Chris.

"He tried to scam me out of my ship," said Matt in an annoyed voice.

"And you only shot him?" said Chris .

"It was my earlier days, didn't have as much experience. We sure did perforate the place up though," said Matt, his tone turning nostalgic.

...

4 years ago according to Matt...

"Explain to me why I should hand over my ship, and my bounty," sad Matt, a hogtied thin toady creature next to him .

"Because I called dibs and I'm in need of a new ship," said the blue duck-like creature talking to Matt.

"Then get your own ship, I'm not letting you sell mine," said Matt.

The duck laughed and said, "Like I'd be caught dead flying that rattletrap. I just need the spare parts to sell."

"That just makes me not want to sell my only ride home even more," said Matt coldly, least of all to a reject from Ducktales.

"Listen, kid, you're new to the merc business so I'll cut you a break," said the duck, "I'll tow you to the next spaceport instead of just dumping you off right here."

"Got more experience than you," said Matt scathingly, before the bounty spat his gag out and said "Does my opinion matter?"

"No," said Matt and the duck at the same time.

"Look, smeghead. This bounty's mine. The DNA locked to me and the spiderbots'll just pluck you," said Matt rudely .

"Which is why you're going to willingly hand him over," said the duck.

"Nah, don't think so," said Matt, drawing his plasma magnum. "How about I just make some crispy duck," he said smugly

"Kid, you can't possibly be a faster shot than me," said the duck who already had his laser pistol pointed between Matt's eyes.

"Armor's pretty well-rated," said Matt, his armor helmet folding down, neither noticing the bounty slipping away .

"Your rating is not what I would call my rating," said the duck.

"The alloy's not even in this universe," said Matt smugly .

"Pull the other one, it has bells," said the duck.

The sound of an engine starting caused them both to turn to see a shuttle powering up. "They never learn," muttered Matt, aiming at it and firing, the blast sending Matt off his feet and blowing the back of the shuttle to pieces .

"I might give you a teeny bit of the bounty for that," said the duck.

"Yeah, no, it's all or nothing," said Matt.

"I am not thinking so," said the duck.

"Tough, I found him first. So bugger off or I give you the same treatment the shuttle got," snapped Matt, the bounty staggering out the wreckage.

"Police brutality," it coughed before falling face down .

"I'm not a cop," said the duck.

"Neither am I, which means I can play dirty," said Matt before taking a smaller gun and using it to shoot the duck in the leg. The duck made a squawk before he fell over.

"Now come on, squidgy. The Incursians promised me that quantum flux capacitor you stole for my ship. This place is too nuts. What next? DNA blobs?" snapped Matt .

...

"Wow, can't believe you got away with Rad's bounty," said Ben.

"Yeah, that duck's not as tough as everybody thinks," said Matt.

"I beg to differ," said a voice behind Matt.

Matt turned around to see Rad right behind him. His eyes narrowed and he said, "Dudesman."

"Lynch," responded Rad before both of them pulled back their fists. Everyone winced at the coming slugfest only for Matt and Rad to do a fist bump. "Long time no see, Lynch. Aren't you supposed to have a monocle?" asked Rad.

"Actually, I recently got sent forward into the future but I'll be going back to my right time soon," said Matt before questioning, "Monocle?"

"But I thought you guys were archrivals or something," said Ben.

"We made up later," said Matt.

"Then why did you tell us about that story?" asked Elena.

"Probably wanted to tell you about the only time he beat me," said Rad.

"You only broke into that Incursian prison ship to steal that bounty back." snapped Matt, before grinning evilly, a shadow covering his eyes. "Oh, they regretted backing out on that deal," he said, chuckling evilly .

"Bet they did," said Rad, "So, Tetrax, where are the bugs you're paying me to spray?"

"Wait, you hired Ducktales? Get off the floor," said Matt, snapping the last part as almost everyone hit the deck.

"I had to bring all the help I could get," said Tetrax.

"Then why not get more red spots?" asked Elena.

"Petropia is not yet ready to enter the Plumber's Union," said Sugilite, "But hopefully more exposure will bring them out of their shells."

"Fine, let's squish some metal bugs. I brought that nova rifle," said Matt.

"So what's the game plan?" asked Ben.

"We blast through the hive until we can locate the Regent," said Tetrax, "Your friend should be able handle it from there."

"That's a plan I like," said Matt

"Then let's go," said Ben, "Elena, wait here until we find the Regent."

"Like I have a choice," grumbled Elena.

"Mina, stay and play with the nice doggy," said Matt to Mina who just stared back at him .

"You're kidding," said Kai.

"You're right, I wouldn't leave you alone with her," said Matt, "Ok, who else wants to stay behind and help watch Mina?" There was pure silence at that. "Nobody at all? Well, that means Kai's stuck with Mina till she purges that neurotoxin."

"I demand to be paid for this," said Kai.

"We'll discuss it later," said Matt, flatly before Mina yelled "DOGGY!" tackling Kai .

"Hey, Kai won't be completely on her own," said Ben, "Elena will be waiting here until we find that wannabe queen."

"Ben, is it safe to leave your current girlfriend with your former girlfriend?" asked Rook.

"Elena's not, wasn't, my girlfriend. We're just friends," said Ben.

"Yeah, keep saying that," said NegaMorph to himself in amusement .

"Really, it was she who had the crush, the freaky, murdering-jealous, obsessive crush," said Ben.

"Yeah, we're such good friends," said Elena dryly.

"Kai, here's a new mission: improve Elena's attitude. Royalty shouldn't be so snarky," said Matt.

"Ha, I'd like to see that happen," said NegaMorph.

"Oh, you will. Someone needs to be carrying messages in case the nanochips jam our communications," said Matt evilly.

"Oh no...don't you dare," snapped NegaMorph, before Mina tackled him .

"You all behave now," said Matt as he walked, leaving NegaMorph and Kai to their torment.

...

It was a shorter flight than Matt would have preferred to the front lines. When they got there, there were dozens of Petrosapien soldiers blasting at a thick blanket of nanochips that was thickly covering the ground in a way that reminded one of army ants.

"Take us over. That many nanochips and their base will be practically empty," called Matt to the pilot .

"That is nothing something we should do," said Tetrax, "If any ship tries to fly over, they swat it out of the air and disassemble it and the crew."

"Fine, set us down at the forward command center. My team have gear to turn this tide but they'll need coordinates to drop," said Matt .

"Ok, though it might take a while to find it. It has to be moved back every hour to keep the nanochips from devouring it," said Tetrax.

"Just get us down there," called Matt .

"Or we could just jump out, start blasting those bugs, and meet up at your mobile base later," said Draco.

"Sure...you let me know how being eaten goes," said Matt scathingly .

"You'll just have to wait until later," said Contrinus. Draco just grumbled about 'no fun'.

"You're supposed to survive fun," snapped Matt, as the command center came into view finally. The command center looked like it was built by the same people who made Kevin's taedenite car, though it probably wasn't the same material. It largely resembled a giant APC made of crystal.

"I had no idea that your crystal-based technology could be so versatile," said Rook.

"When your whole planet is made of one kind of material, you get really good at using it," said Tetrax.

"Ok, let's get this going," said Matt

...

The leader of the unit was pretty easy to identify due to being the craggiest Petrosapien there. Apparently Corporal Zircon was the hardheaded type to not heal his war scars until the war was over or he had no other choice. He was also identifiable by his grey crystals. Evidently, Petrosapiens came in as many colors as Earth gems depending on which part of Petropia they're from.

Mat didn't help mattered by immediately saying "Ok, what's the situation?" like he owned the place .

Zircon gave one short glare at Matt's group and snapped, "This is the 'help' you bring, Tetrax? They're a bigger disappointment than I thought. Look at them. A kid could snap them in half."

"Many people told me that in the past, famous last words. I got a ship parked in orbit with a small army, but I'd prefer to drop my bombs on the correct people," said Matt scathingly, getting in Zircon's face, "So, you gonna help or hinder me?"

"I knew Matt mellowed out later, but I forgot just how much mellowing he had to do," said Ben.

Zircon gave a glance at Ben and said, "Well, at least you brought someone worthwhile back, Tetrax. I hope you also got better tech support than the one we've got."

Matt glared, Kala saying "Uh oh." as she spotted an incoming 'little moment.

"Now listen here you art class project reject, I did not travel halfway across the galaxy just to be judged on my surface value. If you can't get it through that solid block of stone you call a head that we're here to help and treat as such, every last one of us is packing up and leaving and you and your whole planet can be turned to shavings for all I care!" snapped Matt.

There was a nervous silence at that as Matt continued, seemingly to himself, "I shoulda just cut my losses and learnt to live with fur...everyone here is a damn ungrateful git!"

"Stress," said Rad calmly walking towards Matt before tapping him on the shoulder and knocking him out.

"Uh, Matt does remember we already took care of his Loboan problem, right?" asked Draco.

"He got caught up in the moment," said Chip, "Now, as for tech support, you have some of the brightest minds in the galaxy right here."

"Yeah, yeah, that's what she said," said Zircon.

"Uh, is that supposed to be a joke or-" started Chip before the sound of breaking glass was heard.

"Stupid crystal tech," snapped a female voice.

Matt shot upright at that, proving that, like his various electrocutions had made him resistant to hit, he was starting to get resistant to being knocked out...not that this would fill anyone with hope for his career. "And who the smeg is that?" he snapped, Rad looking at his fist before grabbing a chair and smashing it over Matt's head, this time a bit more effective.

Just then, a brown-skinned girl in cyborg armor walked around the corner and said, "Couldn't you guys make this thing out of something easier to integrate with?" Then she noticed the group and said, "Oh scrap."

"Hi Minerva," said Morph happily.

"Minerva? Who's Miner...oh dear, the repressed memories are starting to come back," said Chip, his voice sounding more haunted.

Kala just chuckled to herself before Chris said, "Zircon, despite everything, you have here the best and probably most violent mercenary army at your disposal."

"What good is that against a swarm of something that eats everything you throw at them?" asked Zircon.

"You haven't been throwing the right stuff at them," said Draco.

"Yeah, we throw _everything_ at them and then throw more of what made less of them." said Techo cheerfully .

"Well, let's see what you've got," said Zircon, "Worst that could happen is you get eaten."

"Well, we can't use railguns on what's basically a giant glass planet. Let's try thermal bombs," said Techo cheerfully .

"Or better yet, subthermal bombs," said Ben as he set the Omnitrix and activated it. In a flash, he had changed into Big Chill.

"And I suppose adding fire to your arsenal would not go unwanted," said Skurd as he created a Heatblast mace for Big Chill.

"What about Matt?" asked Chris, kicking the still out-cold Matt .

"He probably will be up in 5 minutes," said Rad, "He better still be able to bring his A game."

"Well, we brought his armor for backup," said Contrinus.

...

Zircon looked at the boxes of rifles being unloaded. "That's it?" he said scathingly, looking at the tuning fork ends.

"EMR's, perfect for anything even slightly robotic," said Techo .

"And even if the bugs aren't caught directly in the blast, their sensors will be completely, well, bugged up," said Chris.

"Meaning you guys can slice and dice em," said Matt, loading a power cell.

"And once we've cut a large enough swathe through them, we can take out the Regent," said Tetrax. "And how do you plan to do that?" asked Zircon.

"Secret weapon," said Matt.

"Excessive violence," translated Techo .

"Fine, how about you show me those rifle things are what you say," said Zircon.

On cue, a swarm came into sight. "Oh look, convenience," said Matt casually, aiming and firing a dome of electrical energy at them, shotgun style . The blast scattered the swarm which dropped to the ground lifeless, though more were coming in. "Ok, it works. Blast em, boys!" called Matt .

The battle quickly unfolded with the mercs blasting at the swarm with the EMRs. The magnetic pulses were proving quite effective, though the swarm was starting to encircle them. Fortunately, the others were able to provide more wide-spread attacks of different varieties. Eventually, the swarm began to back off. "There we have it, technology," said Matt smugly .

"Not bad, but there's still a couple more million to go," said Zircon.

"Oh...damn," said Matt weakly.

...

The Regent, wearing Aria's body, glared as she realized how many of her drones were gone . Petropia was the perfect world for her to mine, though she had some minor trouble from the locals and then that ship full of Loboans showed up. But she had already taken care of the Loboans and the Petrosapiens were losing their advantage when reinforcements arrived. It was that merc and his team again. She should have flushed out all the atmosphere in their ship while she had the chance.

Aria's voice in her head said, "I'd give up if I were you. You can't win."

"They're only organics. Even organics have limits. My hive will multiply faster than they can take out," snapped the Regent.

"Your replication's still only a fraction of what a queen can do," said Aria.

"Silence! I will find her!" snapped the Regent, a couple of drones looking confused . "I don't care if I have to scour every rock in this galaxy, she can't hide for-" snapped the Regent when she froze in shock. Just now, she picked up a blip at the civilized center of Petropia, an unmistakable energy signature. "The Queen, she's on his planet?" she asked, not sure if she could believe it.

"Oh...bollocks," muttered Aria .

"This can't be a coincidence. They must have brought her here to usurp me. I am not giving up my position, she does not deserve to be queen!" snapped the Regent before pointing at some drones and snapping, "Send out the hounds. I want her ripped apart."

"Didn't you want her on the throne 3 seconds ago?" said Aria smugly. "Is somebody incompatible with my operating system?"

"Will you stop messing with my thoughts?" snapped the Regent.

"Oh, you don't need my help to muddle your thoughts," said Aria.

"Send out the hounds anyways," snapped the Regent to the drones, "Bring the Queen to me."

"Somebody's going crazy…" sang Aria .

"SHUT UP!" snapped the Regent.

"Make me. Oh wait, you can't," laughed Aria .

...

At the Sky Temple, Mina was proving to be rather...hard for Kai and NegaMorph to keep their hands on.

"TAG YOU'RE IT!" she laughed, poking Kai, causing Kai to snarl angrily. It had been like this for hours now .

"How long could it possibly take for them to find...whoever it is they're looking for?" growled Kai.

"They're in a big fight. Knowing Matt, it could be days before they even remember what they were looking for," said NegaMorph, who had somehow remained unscathed .

"And when is that neurotoxin in her supposed to wear off?" asked Kai.

NegaMorph pulled out his pocket watch and checked it. "37 hours," he said.

"37 HOURS?" snapped Kai, accidentally sonic howling NegaMorph .

"Please keep your voice down," said Sugilite, "The structure here is very sensitive to sonic vibrations."

"I can't take much more. There must be a faster cure!" snapped Kai.

"There is, but considering that toxin's the only thing holding Mina back from a major tantrum, Matt thought it would be best to leave her like this for a while," said NegaMorph.

"Give me the cure," said Kai warningly .

"You do not know what you're asking for," said NegaMorph.

"No tantrum could be worse than this," snapped Kai before there was a sound like breaking glass.

"Actually, it could," said NegaMorph, "What Mina's doing right now is pure accident. You don't want to see it'd be like when she's doing it on purpose."

"I don't CARE!" howled Kai .

A small swarm of nanochips swarmed over the three of them and Elena snapped, "Will you guys shut up?!"

Mina called "I HATE BUGS!" before laughing insanely .

"Ugh, I should have went to the NSF prison instead," groaned Elena.

"Hey, you'll get to be Queen when this is over," said NegaMorph.

"Who said I wanted to be Queen?" snapped Elena.

"The alternative is that," said NegaMorph, pointing to Kai .

"Like anyone will trust a former criminal to be the queen of a swarm of alien bugs," said Elena.

"Elena, you know you can turn your reputation around. It's not that hard," said Kai.

"Not that hard?" snapped Elena, "Do you have any idea what kind of reputation I've been stuck with? My father was a good man, but when he tried to remove alien technology for the good of the planet, everyone only saw him as a thief. Everybody saw _me_ as a thief. All anyone ever expected me to do is do something rotten at some point and each time I mess up just a little, they immediately start crowing about how they were right all along. And when my father got taken over by the alien tech he was trying to stop, everyone immediately labeled him as a monster. And after he got cured, he didn't live long enough to undo the years of tarnish to his reputation. Then I got infested by the monster that killed my father and I hear it whispering all the time, trying to push my desires to the extreme to work for its benefit. Even now I can barely keep her blocked out. Does that sound like something you can just turn around like an on/off switch?"

"No..." said Kai after a minute, before saying, "That doesn't mean you can't try."

"There are people who have rebounded from worse," said NegaMorph, "Heck, everyone thought I was nothing but a complete monster but they gave me another chance."

"Yeah, like you're a model citizen," said Elena dryly.

"I'm not claiming to be," said NegaMorph, "Nobody said that being a good guy means you have to be a parallelogram."

"Paragon," corrected Kai.

"Whatever. Point is, you don't have to be absolutely good to be a good guy. Just make the best of what you have and try to avoid acting too much like a jerk," said NegaMorph.

"Squishy has good point," said Mina in a lucid moment.

The other looked at Mina with surprise. "Did she just say something smart?" asked Elena.

"Does that mean the venom's wearing off?" asked Kai hopefully.

There was a moment of silence before Mina said in her goofy voice, "Hug me!"

"Well that didn't last long," said NegaMorph.

"That's it! Give me that cure!" snapped Kai .

Just then, there was a howling sound from outside. "Uh, how big are the dogs on this planet?" asked NegaMorph.

"They don't have dogs," said Kai weakly before the doors were sonic howled down .

"Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time before those cultists showed up," said NegaMorph.

"Er, you sure that's them?" asked Kai as she looked at what was coming through the door. They did look a lot like Loboans, Loboans made of metal, wires, and showing very little sign that they had ever been flesh.

"Huh, they got an upgrade. That's a new twist," said NegaMorph.

"Subdue the queen," hissed one of them .

Kai growled and was about to howl when Sugilite said, "Please try to avoid howling. We don't want everything to start crashing down over our heads."

The Robo-Loboans all lunged at the group at that. Elena quickly removed the nanochips holding the others in place and had them swarm the Robo-Lobos. However, her usual methods of dealing with robots was not so effective this time as they were of the same tech she was using and working against her.

"Put your back into it." snapped NegaMorph, slashing at one of them .

The Robo-Loboans continued to march forward, only focused on Elena because she was the Queen and NegaMorph, Kai, and Sugilite because they were fighting them. They completely ignored Mina was staring in a derpy way at nothing in particular.  
Kai pushed an attacker back before snapping, "Mina, do something for once!" Mina just cocked her head.

...

Mina's dark side rolled her eyes before kicking her other side. "You heard her! Do something!" she snapped, only to get a snore. "Oh come on, that venom can't have completely incapacitated you!" snapped Mina's dark side, "We still have 1 percent of cleverness left."

"I can lick my own eyeball," said Mina's light side dizzily, this last part apparently out loud as Kai was heard swearing .

"I can't believe you're going to let all those evil werewolf guys pass by without fighting them!" snapped Mina's dark side.

"Puppies shiny," said Mina's light side.

"Yeah, they're shiny because they've had all their living organs replaced with mechanical stuff," said Mina's dark side dryly.

Mina's light side frowned and said, "Puppies...undead?"

"Erm...yes?" said Mina's dark side, unsure where this was going .

"Mina doesn't like undead," said Mina's light side, sounding a tiny bit more lucid.

"Erm...yes...undead bad. Your godfather would be happy if you crushed them," said the dark side calmly.

"Mina crush puppies...Mina forget how," said Mina's light side.

"Let me give you a little reminder," said Mina's dark side.

...

The Robo-Loboans were starting to overwhelm the group when Mina suddenly started twitching. They didn't really notice until she let out a roar. Everyone turned to look at Mina who now had a berserker rage similar to Matt's in her eyes. "My name is Lumina, daughter of Spyro, and I HATE ZOMBIES!" she roared.

The Robo-Loboans looked at one another before deciding Mina was the main threat, even more so when one of them was hit so hard his metal covering came off, revealing an unconscious Loboan . Mina continued charging through the Robo-Loboans, sending them flying in every direction. Every once in a while, she grabbed one and started using it to hammer the others until she lost her grip on it.

Finally, the Loboans began to back off, abandoning their defeated comrades to flee as fast as they could from Mina. "Your sugar has ants in it and they just won't go away!" yelled Mina as she threw fireballs indiscriminately in the direction of the Loboans.

"Ok, Mina, you can stop now," called NegaMorph .

"There are too many stickers, tags, and plastic thingies on new stuff and they keep getting in the way!" yelled Mina as she picked up a crystal table and got ready to throw it.

The target, one of the freed Loboans, yelped and covered his face, only for a shadow portal to devour the table mid-flight. "I said stop!" yelled NegaMorph .

Mina blinked and asked, "Wait, why are we in a big crystal room? What's going on here? I didn't do anything embarrassing, did I?"

"No, you went into a full on berserker rage," said Kai, grabbing the Loboan as he tried to slip away .

"Oh...did I do anything embarrassing before that?" asked Mina.

"Nothing goofier than what Morph would have done," said NegaMorph.

Mina covered her face at that. "Oh ancients..." she moaned .

"Hey, it could have been worse," said Kai.

"How could it have been worse?" asked Mina.

"You could have gone streaking," said NegaMorph.

"Yeah, that'd be worse," said Mina in a slightly haunted tone.

"Look, at least we can call Matt and tell him you're back to normal," said NegaMorph .

"And since she's back to normal, we can go to the front lines, right?" asked Elena.

"Eh, not sure about you," said NegaMorph, "Pretty sure that was the Regent's attempt to make sure you don't take back the throne and that won't be her only one."

"Then I'll be a bodyguard," said Mina loftily .

"Against a swarm of alien techno-locusts?" asked Elena.

"I beat those things while hyped up on dumb-dumb toxin," said Mina .

"Yeah, but those were concentrated nanochips. The others will be coming at you like a storm front," said Elena.

"Then I'll use lightning element to cook them," said Mina .

"That could work," said Elena, "Besides, the Regent has to be running low on nanochips by now if your friends are anywhere as good as you guys have been saying."

"My godfather's probably taken most of them out by now," said Mina smugly .

Just then, there was a beep on NegaMorph's comm which he answered. "Hey, the nanochips are pulling back. Now might be our best chance to get the Regent," said Techo's voice.

"Sounds like a plan. We had some trouble here with Robo-lobos. Nothing we couldn't handle...and Mina's come to her senses." said NegaMorph .

"Is she threatening to burn anything down?" asked Techo.

"Nah, think she spent up that rage with burning out the venom," said NegaMorph.

"Good to hear. Keep her there. Matt won't want her within a mile of this mess," said Techo's voice .

"But I wanna fight," whined Mina.

"This is not a good place for your first job. You mess up here, you die if you're lucky," snapped Techo's voice

"But-" started Mina.

"No buts. You'll get your first big battle when it's something lower leveled," said Techo's voice.

"I'm not a kid anymore. I can-" began Mina only for Techo to yell "Oh shi-" and for the line to go dead .

"Mina, you can be our reserve, but only if it's absolutely necessary," said NegaMorph.

"And how will I know when it's necessary?" asked Mina.

"When I let you out," said NegaMorph suddenly swallowing her.

"That is seriously messed up," said Kai.

"Tell me about it," said Elena.

"Ok, I'm sure the line cut's nothing. Probably just a surprise attack. Kai, your new friend know anything?" said NegaMorph, pointing to Kai's captive .

"I've almost got it out of him," said Kai as she shook the Loboan more.

The Loboan finally yelped, "No...no more...not back to the buzzing...so silent..."

"Don't think being part of the swarm agreed with him," said NegaMorph.

The Loboan turned to see Elena and screamed, "No...Queen must put me back...need the buzzing!"

"Uh, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this," said Elena.

"Regent will consume...consume us all!" laughed the Loboan distantly .

"That sounds even worse," said Kai, "We better stop messing around."

Suddenly, the ground shook and nearly knocked them over. "I think the Regent is thinking the same thing," said NegaMorph.

The com came back on at that, Aria's voice coming through, "My queen...are you there?"

"Uh, this is her...receptionist, can I take a message?" asked Kai.

"Ah, the Loboan human hybrid. The queen is with you. We have most of your companions. She will return to us...or I will be forced to...take steps...YES...steps!" said Aria's voice, shouting the 'yes' to everyone's shock.

"Uh, where you wanna meet up?" asked Elena.

"You know where you must go, majesty," said Aria's voice, adding, "One terran hour...then someone else joins us."

Elena turned to the others and said, "Ok, somebody better have some kind of idea of what to do about her."

"Hmm...if she's wearing Aria's walkabout body, there ought to be a manual reboot system," said NegaMorph.

"If we can get close enough. There's no way we can fight through her guards within an hour," said Kai .

"Wouldn't those guards want us to go to her?" asked Elena.

"If you believe that, there's a nice bridge I'd like to sell you," said NegaMorph dryly.

"Yeah, it's a trap. The Regent didn't sound that stable," said Elena.

NegaMorph looked thoughtful before frowning. "Exo-gene...I heard they booby trapped their AIs with viruses to prevent hacking. Regent musta triggered one...or all of them."

"That'll mean she's just about ready to bite the dust, right?" asked Elena.

"Maybe, but she could still do a lot of harm before that. If we gave her just one big shock, it'd be enough to fry her for good," said NegaMorph.

Kai nodded before saying, "Wait, that'll just leave the nanochips rampaging looking for another leader. We can't just take out the leader and leave it at that."

"Yeah, someone's gotta step up," said NegaMorph, looking at Elena meaningfully.

Elena looked around to see everyone staring. "Oh no...not a chance," she said, backing up .

"Hey, you can't keep running away from this forever," said NegaMorph.

"Besides, the hive wouldn't be so bad if you're running it," said Kai.

"Have you forgotten how corruptive they are?" asked Elena.

"It just takes an iron will and a strong virus to shut up the naysayers," said NegaMorph.

"You're saying I can control these things?" said Elena in a disbelieving voice .

"Well what do you think being 'Queen' is all about? Just lying in one room, eating ice cream, and laying thousands of eggs a day?" asked NegaMorph.

Elena looked horrified, Kai glaring and hissing, "Not helping."

"I was joking. Elena's already shown the Queen in her head who's the boss. Once the Regent is rejected, she'll have no opposition," said NegaMorph.

Elena snapped, "Fine, I'll do it."

"Attagirl, you should consider yourself lucky to have a whole race of aliens who can do just about anything with technology obeying your every wishes," said NegaMorph.

"Except when they twist my wishes into something too extreme," said Elena.

"You're just lacking confidence," said NegaMorph, "Let's get a move on before we lose any more time."

...

The Regent meanwhile was not having a nice time. Matt had settled into his usual method of making kidnappers regret everything...by singing .

The others were barely able to tune Matt out so they tried to have a conversation of their own. "So...you're supposed to be Chip's future daughter," said Chris conversationally to Minerva.

"Probably shouldn't be talking too much about it," said Minerva.

"How comes your armor isn't upgraded from last time?" asked Morph.

"What last time?" asked Minerva.

"You know when you went back in time, we fought Mantichrome..." started Morph before Draco bopped him.

"In case you've forgotten, we're only 6 years in the future, the Minerva we encountered was from 7 years in the future," he said.

"ENOUGH! ALL OF YOU! SHUT UP!" screamed the Regent, gripping her head .

"Aw, does someone have a headache?" asked Morph.

"Yes...yes...make that...thing stop trying to sing!" snapped the Regent .

"Ok, Matt, I think you can give it a rest," said Morph only to be bopped by Draco again.

"You want her to proceed with the painful disassembling/assimilation?" asked Draco.

"Encore, Matt, encore," said Morph quickly .

"You will be silent or-" snapped the Regent before sparks started coming from the side of her head.

"I think one of her hearing sensors blew out," said Chip conversationally .

"Darn, guess I'll have to sing twice as loud now," said Matt before taking in a big breath

"NO! NOOOO!" shrieked the Regent hysterically, sending a blast of nanochips at Matt .

"Just as well, I think my ears are starting to bleed," said Chris.

"Now...as soon as the Queen arrives...I remove her...make _her_ the Regent!" snapped the Regent, apparently talking to herself .

"Oh, back to the evil monologue. That'll make the time fly by," said Techo dryly.

"Silence...you will all pay...shielding her from justice!" snapped the Regent .

"No, we were shielding her for justice," said Morph.

"SILENCE! WHO ASKED YOU?" snapped the Regent

"You did," said Morph.

"LIES! All of you lying!" snapped the Regent before pausing, looking at the door.

"Ooh, is the pizza arriving?" asked Morph.

"You didn't actually order pizza, did you?" asked Chip.

"It's here in 30 minutes or it's free," said Morph.

"She's here," said the Regent in a small voice before the doors exploded inwards.

When the smoke cleared, Elena, Kai, and NegaMorph were standing there. "I've come for my friends and my throne," said Elena.

"As well as a cure for my nanite problem," added Kai.

"You are not worthy to be queen. You abandoned us!" snapped the Regent insanely .

"You were twisting my mind from the inside out. Why would I want to be with you?" snapped Elena.

"You won't be, except as another minion. I am a far better leader then you. I will devour your homeworld like I will this one," snapped the Regent .

"That's yet another reason I didn't like hanging out with you guys," said Elena, "Isn't one world enough for you?"

"There must always be more," snapped the Regent .

"Well that's gonna change when I'm back in charge," said Elena, "We're going to be a positive influence on the galaxy, not an insatiable scourge."

"You won't be in charge," hissed the Regent .

"Yes I will," said Elena before shooting her nanochips at the Regent. The Regent snarled and sent her own blasts out, the blasts impacting in the center .

"Elena's the true queen and the Regent's blown a few fuses," said Ben, "This should be over pretty quickly." Matt, his mouth covered by a nanochip created gag, pointed behind Elena though, to where more Robo-Lobos were getting ready to pounce . "Kai and NegaMorph can handle those guys," said Ben.

Matt glared before grabbing his ion blade, tossing it overarm at a space in the air. The ion blade hit something and a severed biomechanical arm fell out of thin air. There was a slight buzzing before several robo-revenites appeared on the ceiling. "Oh...that's a bigger problem," said Ben.

Matt made an expression as if to say 'ya think?' before he lunged at the nearest revenite However, without any powers, Matt was pretty easily pinned to the wall. The revenite glared at Matt before juddering as Matt fired a solarite blast through its chest . "Ha, can't heal from that," said Matt before more robo-revenites pinned him down.

Kai had also been pinned down by the Robo-Loboans and NegaMorph had been buried in more nanochips. All it took was one more minion to grab Elena from behind to tilt the playing field. "Now we end this," said the Regent as she readied one final blast.

As she prepared to fire, Minerva suddenly called out, "Mom, don't do it!"  
Now there is one emotion that can cut through any situation, no matter how much brainwashing was applied or how close someone is to crossing over the moral line: complete and utter bafflement. "Mom?" asked Aria, breaking through the Regent's control.

"Mom?!" asked Chip, looking like he was about to lose it. The nanochip constructs and minions froze completely in place, the Regent's confusion having stalled all orders. The robo-minions also froze, before their coverings fell away, revealing confused revenite and Loboan troopers, who took one look at one another before lunging at each other .

The Novus Star crew probably could have taken advantage of this confusion and escaped their bonds...if they weren't overwhelmed by Minerva's little mind bomb. "Chip...and Aria...made Minerva?!" asked Matt, his brain trying to find a logical reason for that to be possible.

"I don't get it either," gibbered Chip .

"Ugh, think I'm gonna be sick," groaned NegaMorph before gagging and spitting out a similarly-grossed out Mina.

"What did I miss?" she asked in a dazed tone.

Fortunately, Elena wasn't shell-shocked and was able to use the Regent's temporary paralysis to grab onto her. "You've been dethroned," said Elena before zapping Aria's body and eradicating every trace of nanochip in her.

Aria staggered back at that, shaking her head. "Oh...well that was unpleasant," she muttered .

Minerva hugged her and said, "It's good to have you back, Mom."

"It's good to be back," said Aria before double-taking, "What did you call me?"

"Erm...nothing," said Minerva innocently .

...

Meanwhile, Elena was struggling as a mental assault was going on in her. She could hear the basic instincts of every nanochip clawing at her, telling her to assimilate everything, assimilate everyone, she would lead them in devouring the universe. "No, we're going to do only what I want!" she snapped as she pushed away the nanochips' influence.

The nanochips response was to simply push harder, though there was less of the voices . "I am not your factory. I am not going to let you use me. I'm the one who's giving the orders," snapped Elena as she pushed even harder.

More of the nanochips went silent at that, until just one, half-insane voice was heard: the Regent, ranting away . "You don't deserve to be queen, you just got it by dumb luck!" snapped the Regent.

"Maybe, but you're not fit to be queen, Regent, or anything. You're just a faulty program," said Elena as she smothered that one last bit out.

"No...NO...NOOO!" screamed the Regent before she went silent.

...

From the outside, the others could see Elena transforming into her nanochip queen form. "Uh, Elena, you still you?" asked Ben nervously.

There were a few moments of tension before Elena's head lost the horns and returned to looking like her human form's. "It's over," said Elena, "The nanochips will never trouble anyone again as long as I'm here."

"Good...good..." panted Matt, the revenites having used the distraction to flee. "Petropia PDF...situation's under control...nanochips contained," he said into his com.

"Best news I heard in days," said Zircon, "What about all the Loboans?"

"My team can mop them up but I doubt they'll be a problem much longer..." said Matt.

"But what about that mirror?" asked Kai.

"I'm just about to call about that," said Matt.

...

The Archon was tinkering in the Novus Star's lab to pass the time. He could have easily escaped after he incapacitated the crew with a sleeping virus, but he needed to wait until the dreadnought had been cleared out before he could take possession again. And from the look of things, that time was now. He looked up as the com beeped, pressing the button to answer. "Ah, captain. I'm a little busy. Can I help you?"

"Yeah, we need to find your ship. Where did Gralen park it?" asked Matt.

"I know exactly where. I'm about to go there right now. I'm afraid your men are indisposed so I will let myself out," said the Archon in a distracted voice, finishing the personal teleporter he'd been working on.

"Not with that mirror you won't," snapped Matt.

The Archon sighed and said, "If it's about clearing up that one last bit of nano-plague, I've left what you need to cure it the lab. Consider it a reward for getting me back my ship."

"You're not going anywhere!" snapped Matt.

The Archon grinned. "Oh, I'm sure you'll get another chance. Your backup AI was very easy to hack...a stable temporal rift of all things..." he said smugly, typing in the command for his new teleporter, "Hopefully the next time we meet, you'll be a bigger challenge. You can bet I certainly will be." With that, the Archon vanished...

...

...and reappeared on the bridge of the dreadnought. Most of the surviving crew had already made it back to the dreadnought by then. "Sir, you're ok," said one of them .

"Just fine, had a chance to learn from my captors," said the Archon.

"We have the location of the last plague victim. Should we fire?" said another crewman.

"No, no, I don't think so. Power up the mirror, set it to deactivation and fire on target. I'm feeling merciful today," said the Archon .

"Sir, would it not be simpler to just reconfigure this world?" asked the second-in-command.

"This is a silicon world with similarly-built inhabitants. The mirror won't work on them and there are too few creatures of compatible physiology to waste the effort on. Do as I have ordered," said the Archon.

"Yes, my Archon," said the crewman.

...

"Let him escape AGAIN!?" snapped Kai.

"He had already incapacitated the crew," said Matt, "But they'll be up soon I'm sure." He checked the comm and said, "Commander Lynch to medbay, status report."

"Here, sir. Checked the cure...it's tap water," said a voice on the other end .

"Tap water? TAP WATER?!" roared Kai.

"Now Kai, as captain of the ship you've been travelling on, I forbid you to attack me and reinfect me with nanites," said Matt.

Kai just growled...before a beam of light smashed down on her, the others looking up to see the revenite dreadnought hovering before it vanished, its cloak kicking in . "Did they just atomize my girlfriend?!" snapped Ben.

"Uh, no, looks like they cured her," said Draco. Indeed, the smoke was clearing to show an unconscious and very human Kai.

"Techo, can double check to see if her nanites are gone?" asked Matt.

Techo checked his scanner at that. "She's clean, a few stragglers but I doubt they'll cause any trouble," he said .

"Well, that takes care of every last nagging detail for why we're still here instead of looking for Chloe, right?" asked Matt.

"Yeah, we have a prison planet to break into." said Chris sarcastically .

"Right then, any knowledge of the future that _needs_ to be purged from our memories?" asked Matt.

"I'm having a daughter with Aria," groaned Chip.

"Oh...right...anyone else feel like they'll need to forget about Minerva's parentage?" asked Matt. Aria held up her hand too at that . Actually, more than a few other crewmembers did too.

"Ok...get the mind wipers," groaned Matt .

...

"So, how are you guys gonna go back to your normal time anyways?" asked Ben once they were back on the Novus Star and Aria was reinstalled.

"The computer logged the rift. We should be able to get back that way," said Aria calmly

"After that, it's a straight shot to Mundus," said Matt.

"Tamriel," corrected Chip.

"I thought it was Nirn," said Morph.

"The planet's called Mundus! Next person to correct me will be fired at Mundus!" snapped Matt, causing everyone to jump .

"Well, I guess I'll see you later...earlier...whenever," said Ben.

"Yeah, see you around, kid," said Matt.

...

Gralen groaned as he woke up. His head was buzzing as if ants were crawling over his brain. As such, it took him a while to notice he was strapped to a table.

"Wh...Hey...who dares tie me down like some earth mongrel?" he snapped.

"I do," said the Archon as he walked into view, "You've stolen and abused my technology, Loboan."

Gralen glared and tried to pull free. "When I am free, you will die by my claws," snapped Gralen .

"Oh, that's not very likely to happen. I keep my test subjects very secure," said the Archon.

"Test subject?" said Gralen in confusion .

"Oh yes, I have many experiments planned and sadly we can't spare any lower caste revenites at the moment. It is quite fortunate that you're here actually," said the Archon as he idly held up a tool that looked more like it was meant for carving meat than surgery. Gralen tried to pull away as the Archon leaned in and said, "I'm curious to see what makes you tick."

"Wait a minute, I know my rights, you can't do this!" yelped Gralen.

"Oh, I can. This is my ship and you have no rights here," said the Archon. Gralen gulped as the Archon said, "I hope you last longer than your friend."

Gralen nervously turned his head until he could look at the operating table next to him before he started screaming.

* * *

Well, there's the end of the story and everything's wrapped up. We might run into the Archon again, but that probably won't be happening any time soon. Now we'll be heading on to the next big adventure which might take a while to get up as me and my co-author are still working on the first few chapters. Shouldn't take very long though. So keep an eye out for the next story and please review.


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